Percreta score to differentiate between placenta accreta and placenta percreta with ultrasound and MR imaging

The objective of this study was to assess the performance of ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features in helping to classify the type of placenta accreta spectrum (PAS; accreta/increta vs percreta), alone or combined in a predictive score.

We conducted a retrospective study in 82 pregnant women with PAS who underwent ultrasound and MRI examination of the pelvis before delivery (from an initial cohort of 185 women with PAS). We estimated the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of MRI and ultrasound in the diagnosis of the type of PAS. We analyzed cesarean and imaging features using univariable logistic regression analysis. We constructed a nomogram to predict the risk of placenta percreta and validated it with bootstrap resampling, then used receiver operating characteristic curves to assess the performance of the model in distinguishing between placenta percreta and placenta accreta/increta.

Among the 82 patients, 29 (35%) had placenta accreta/increta and 53 (65%) had placenta percreta. The best features to discriminate between placenta accreta/increta and placenta percreta with ultrasound were increased vascularization at the uterine serosa-bladder wall interface (odds ratio [OR] 7.93; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.78-24.99; p < 0.01) and the number of lacunae without a hyperechogenic halo (OR 1.36; 95% CI 1.14-1.67; p = 0.012). Concerning MRI markers, heterogeneous placenta (OR 12.89; 95% CI 3.05-89.16; p = 0.002), dark intraplacental bands (OR 12.89; 95% CI 3.05-89.16; p = 0.002) and bladder wall interruption (OR 15.89; 95% CI 4.78-73.33; p < 0.001) had a higher OR in discriminating placenta accreta/increta from placenta percreta. The nomogram yielded areas under the curve of 0.841 (95% CI 0.754-0.927) and 0.856 (95% CI 0.767-0.945), after bootstrap resampling, for the accurate prediction of placenta percreta.

The nomogram we developed to predict the risk of placenta percreta among patients with PAS had good discriminative capabilities. This performance and its impact on maternal morbidity should be confirmed by future prospective studies.