Placental mesenchymal dysplasia: What every radiologist needs to know

Abstract

Placental mesenchymal dysplasia (PMD) is an uncommon vascular anomaly of the placenta characterized by placentomegaly with multicystic placental lesion on ultrasonography and mesenchymal stem villous hyperplasia on histopathology. Placental mesenchymal dysplasia should be considered in the differential diagnosis of cases of multicystic placental lesion such as molar pregnancy, chorioangioma, subchorionic hematoma, and spontaneous abortion with hydropic placental changes. However, lack of high-velocity signals inside the lesion and a normal karyotype favor a diagnosis of PMD. PMD must be differentiated from gestational trophoblastic disease because management and outcomes differ. We report the case of an 18-year-old female at 15 weeks of gestation with sonographic findings suggestive of placental mesenchymal dysplasia. The diagnosis was confirmed on histopathology.

Keywords

• partial molar pregnancy
• placental mesenchymal dysplasia
• sonography