Abnormal placental adherence is an important cause of maternal peripartum morbidity and mortality due to massive hemorrhage.
Awareness of the sonographic findings and vigilant imaging of patients with risk factors - in particular placenta previa and multiple previous Cesarian sections - increases the likelihood of accurate prenatal diagnosis.
This in turn enables adequate pre-operative preparation, such as planned delivery at a tertiary institution, and preparation of a large quantity of crossmatched red blood cells.