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Placenta previa

• Overview
• Symptoms
• Treatment
• Prevention

Symptoms:

• Spotting during the first and second trimesters
• Sudden, painless, and profuse vaginal bleeding in pregnancy during the third trimester (usually after 28 weeks)
• Uterine cramping occurring with onset of bleeding

Note: Bleeding may not occur until after labor starts in some cases. Labor sometimes starts within several days after initial heavy, vaginal bleeding.

Signs and tests:

The uterus is usually soft and relaxed. The infant position is oblique ( // ) or transverse ( == ) in about 15% of cases. Fetal distress is not usually present unless a cord accident occurs, or vaginal blood loss has been heavy enough to induce maternal shock or placenta abruptio .

An abdominal ultrasound performed during the second trimester indicates low positioning of the placenta. Transvaginal or transperineal ultrasound can help physicians determine the position of a low-lying placenta.

• Review Date: 8/19/2005
• Reviewed By: Sharon Roseanne Thompson, M.D., M.P.H., Clinical Fellow, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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