'Cor placentale': placental intervillus/intravillus blood flow mismatch is the pathophysiological mechanism in severe intrauterine growth restriction due to uteroplacental disease.

The underlying pathophysiology in most cases of severe intrauterine growth restriction and pre-eclampsia is thought to be abnormal and inadequate conversion of the branches of the uterine arteries into low resistance uteroplacental vessels, due to poor extravillous trophoblastic invasion, leading to reduced intervillous blood flow. Since, in most vascular beds the main site of flow resistance is at the level of the small arteries/arterioles rather than the capillary bed itself it is likely that in cases of intrauterine growth restriction due to uteroplacental dysfunction with abnormal fetal umbilical artery flow velocity waveforms, the underlying pathological mechanism is primarily an initial reduction in intervillus flow leading to relative local hypoxia of some villus territories. This results initially in autocrine/paracrine mediated localized stem artery vasoconstriction to minimize intervillus/intravillus flow mismatch which, when widespread, will result in abnormal umbilical artery Doppler waveforms due to the globally increased resistance to fetoplacental flow. Since, a small reduction in vessel radius will result in an exponential increase in flow resistance and reduction in flow, the magnitude of stem vessel constriction need only be small to result in large changes in fetoplacental vascular haemodynamics. Thus, the underlying progressive pathology in this condition may be cardiac failure, secondary to chronic stem vessel vasoconstriction caused by abnormalities in oxygenation of the fetal respiratory system hence the term 'cor placentale' is proposed. Copyright 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.