Placenta accreta in the first trimester of pregnancy: Sonographic findings

In a case of histologically confirmed placenta increta, decidual protrusion into the myometrium was observed sonographically at 6 weeks' gestation, corresponding to placental protrusion from a disrupted placental–uterine wall interface seen in the later part of the first and second trimester. It is hypothesized that the histologic finding of decidual scarcity in placenta accreta is not a cause but rather an end result of the recruitment of trophoblasts across the decidual–placental interface in a maternal attempt at healing and/or repair in the presence of uterine injury, disease, or malformation that accounts for the associated factors and course of the condition. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound, 2009