As part of UCHealth’s Placenta Accreta Response Team, we’ve helped 48 mothers and babies survive a dangerous delivery
Svenja Carlson was in her third trimester with her third child and learned she had placenta percreta, the most serious form of placenta accreta. This is a high-risk pregnancy complication that occurs when the placenta attaches itself too deeply into a woman’s uterus.
Learn about the causes, symptoms and treatment options for placenta accreta
Carlson is lucky she lives in Colorado, which has one of the only formal Placenta Accreta Response Teams in the country. The UCHealth team is led by CU Gynecologic Oncology’s Dr. Saketh Guntupalli and Dr. Julie Scott, Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist.
The team was started shortly after Dr. Guntupalli started working at the University of Colorado in August 2012. Days before he started, a patient with placenta accreta had died. Since the program has been created the team has seen 48 cases.
“Every mom has walked out of the hospital, and we have had every baby survive and do well,” said Dr. Guntupall, who has passed along his knowledge to four fellows.
One, Dr. Bradley Corr, now a physician with the Gynecologic Oncology department, was there when Carlson delivered her baby Lilija.