Placental adhesion disorder: magnetic resonance imaging features and a proposal for a structured report.

Placental adhesion disorder encompasses the various types of abnormal placentation that occur when the chorionic villi penetrate the uterine wall. Placenta accreta has become more common, mainly because of the increasing rates of cesarean section. Although ultrasound is the first-line imaging modality for evaluation of the placenta, it plays a limited role in cases of posterior placenta accreta and inconclusive findings. In such cases, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is indicated, mainly because it is a more accurate means of identifying placental invasion of extrauterine structures in high-risk pregnant women. In this review article, we present the ten major and minor MRI features of placental adhesion disorder, as described in the international literature. In addition, we propose a template for structured reports of MRI examinations of the placenta. We have also devised a guided questionnaire in order to identify risk factors in patients scheduled to undergo such examinations, with the objective of facilitating the multidisciplinary treatment planning needed in order to minimize maternal morbidity and mortality.

A desordem de adesão placentária é um tipo de placentação anormal que ocorre quando há penetração das vilosidades coriônicas na parede uterina. O acretismo placentário tornou-se mais frequente, principalmente devido às taxas crescentes de cesarianas. A ultrassonografia é a modalidade de imagem de primeira linha para avaliação placentária, apresentando papel limitado nos casos de placenta posterior e achados duvidosos. Nesses casos, a ressonância magnética (RM) está indicada e é bastante eficaz, principalmente para identificar a disseminação extrauterina da placenta em gestantes de alto risco. Neste artigo de revisão apresentamos os dez principais sinais de desordem de adesão placentária pela RM descritos na literatura. Junto a isso, propomos um modelo de relatório estruturado e um questionário direcionado com o intuito de identificar os possíveis fatores de risco da paciente a ser submetida ao exame de RM da placenta, atendendo às expectativas dos especialistas envolvidos no planejamento do tratamento multidisciplinar necessário para minimizar a morbimortalidade materna.

Paracrine Interactions between Adipocytes and Tumor Cells Recruit and Modify Macrophages to the Mammary Tumor Microenvironment: The Role of Obesity and Inflammation in Breast Adipose Tissue.

The relationship between obesity and breast cancer (BC) has focused on serum factors. However, the mammary gland contains adipose tissue (AT) which may enable the crosstalk between adipocytes and tumor cells contributing to tumor macrophage recruitment. We hypothesize that the breast AT (bAT) is inflamed in obese females and plays a major role in breast cancer development. The effects of this interplay on macrophage chemotaxis were examined in vitro, using co-cultures of mouse macrophages, mammary tumor cells and adipocytes. Macrophages were exposed to the adipocyte and tumor paracrine factors leptin, CCL2 and lauric acid (alone or in combinations). In cell supernatants Luminex identified additional molecules with chemotactic and other pro-tumor functions. Focus on the adipokine leptin, which has been shown to have a central role in breast cancer pathogenesis, indicated it modulates macrophage phenotypes and functions. In vivo experiments demonstrate that mammary tumors from obese mice are larger and that bAT from obese tumor-bearers contains higher numbers of macrophages/CLS and hypertrophic adipocytes than bAT from lean tumor-bearers, thus confirming it is more inflamed. Also, bAT distal from the tumor is more inflamed in obese than in lean mice. Our results reveal that bAT plays a role in breast cancer development in obesity.