Pregnancy in a patient with Raynaud's disease

We report a patient who, at the time of her third pregnancy at the age of 35, had had Raynaud's disease for 18 years. Her first pregnancy (during which she took Marcumar, an anticoagulant) ended in a miscarriage at three months gestation. The second pregnancy ended in fetal death due to placental insufficiency. The third pregnancy was also complicated by placental insufficiency which became evident during the second trimester. The patient was observed carefully and allowed to continue to 37 weeks gestation when a Caesarean section was done for late fetal heart rate decelerations during early labour of spontaneous onset. The baby had a low birth weight but developed normally. The placenta showed certain abnormalities which are described.