When the placenta is attached abnormally deep through the endometrium into the middle layer of the uterine wall, the condition is referred to as placenta accreta. Placenta accreta can be of three kinds and this depends completely on the depth of penetration. Under normal conditions, the placenta accrete is supposed to detach itself naturally from the uterine wall but there are women who experience placenta accreta while giving birth to their child and are thus at a great risk of going through a hemorrhage while the placenta will be removed surgically. Surgery is the usual method adopted for the process of removal of the placenta as well as to control the bleeding. In severe cases of placenta accreta, the situation can lead to a hysterectomy or even be fatal. It is not a very common complication and affects only 1 out of 2500 pregnancies.

In the most common type of placenta accreta, there is an invasion of the myometrium which does not cause a penetration of the entire thickness of the muscle. 75 to 78% of those experiencing a placenta accreta, suffer from this type of the complication. There is no distinct name that is given to describe this state of placenta accreta. However there are two other kinds of variants for this complication and their names are associated with the depth of their attachment to the wall of the uterus. Placenta increta takes place when the placenta further penetrates into the myometrium. This happens in 17% of all placenta accreta cases. The third kind is placenta percreta and this is the most severe kind of placenta accreta occurring in only about 5 to 7% of the cases where the placenta penetrates the whole of the myometrium to the inside of the wall of the uterus. This condition can cause the placenta to join with other vital organs such as the bladder or the rectum.

Placenta accreta is a rare complication and can hardly be diagnosed before the birth takes place. Also after birth it is difficult to get diagnosed. It definitely causes some amount of vaginal bleeding in the third trimester though doctors often fail to see is as placenta accreta since vaginal bleeding can be associated with a lot of common pregnancy complications. In the second trimester high levels of maternal serum known as alpha fetoprotein would be noticed but then again that could emerge even though placenta accreta need not necessarily take place. The chances of suffering a placenta accreta are increased with the presence of any kind of scar tissue from a previous caesarean section. A thin decidua is also a contributing factor many a times to such trophoblastic invasions. Statistically it has been found that if the fetus being carried by the mother is female then there are higher chances of placenta accreta occurring.

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