Placental volume in gestational week 27 measured by three-dimensional ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging

Ultrasound is the diagnostic tool of choice in pregnancy. We lack valid ultrasound methods for placental size measurements. Our aim was therefore to compare three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for measurements of placental volume.

We measured placental volume by 3D ultrasound and MRI in 100 unselected pregnancies at 27 weeks of gestation (25⁺⁴ -28⁺⁴  weeks). The 3D ultrasound acquisitions were analyzed offline, and the placental outline was manually traced using the virtual organ computer-aided analysis (VOCAL) 30° rotational technique. The MRI examinations included a T2-weighted gradient echo sequence in the sagittal plane, with 5-mm slices through the entire uterus. The placental outline was manually traced in each slice. The correlation between 3D ultrasound and MRI placental volumes was estimated by intraclass correlation coefficients. Bland-Altman analysis was applied to visualize systematic bias and limits of agreement, in which the ratio MRI placental volume/3D ultrasound placental volume was plotted against the average of the two methods.

The intraclass correlation coefficient between 3D ultrasound and MRI measurements was 0.49 (95% confidence interval 0.33-0.63). In general, 3D ultrasound measured smaller placental volumes (median 373 cm³ , interquartile range 309-434 cm³ ) than MRI (median 507 cm³ , interquartile range 429-595 cm³ ) and the systematic bias was 1.44. The 95% limits of agreement between the two methods were wide (0.68-2.21).

We found poor to moderate correlation between 3D ultrasound and MRI placental volume measurements. Generally, 3D ultrasound measured smaller placental volumes than MRI, suggesting that 3D ultrasound failed to visualize the entire placenta. Our findings may hopefully contribute to the improvement of ultrasound methods for placental measurements.