Placenta accreta

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Placenta accreta is a placenta with an abnormally firm attachment to the uterus.

Having had both a cesarean delivery and placenta previa in a previous pregnancy greatly increases the risk of placenta accreta.
If women have risk factors for placenta accreta, doctors do ultrasonography periodically during the pregnancy to check for this complication.
A few weeks before the due date, doctors usually deliver the baby, then remove the uterus, unless the woman objects.

After delivery of the baby, the placenta usually detaches from the uterus, and the woman can push the placenta out by herself or with help from a doctor or midwife. When the placenta is too firmly attached, parts of the placenta may remain in the uterus after delivery. In these cases, delivery of the placenta is delayed, and the risks of bleeding and infection in the uterus are increased. Bleeding may be life threatening.
Placenta accreta is becoming more common. It occurred in about

1 in 30,000 pregnancies in the 1950s
1 in 500 to 2,000 in the 1980s and 1990s
3 in 1,000 in the 2000s

This increase coincides with the increase in cesarean delivery.