**Future investigation**

As medical practitioners, our current prenatal toolkit for treating placental malfunctions is limited, with the main tool being increased fetal surveillance, and when things go awry, the definitive intervention is delivery of the fetus. Until more is known regarding placental pathology and we develop methods for preventing, modifying, treating, or possibly even reversing the pathology, then expedited, and often preterm, delivery with its associated sequellae remains our principal method of therapy. Scientific investigation carries on at a fevered pace, with new findings piecing together the complex biological nature of this fascinating organ. It is this author's hope that during his lifetime, new insights into the placenta on molecular, genetic, physiologic, anatomic, and clinical levels will lead to fetal interventions which thereby decrease the iatrogenic preterm birth rate, and will permit affected pregnancies to progress closer to term in their natural environment.

## **Appendices and nomenclature**


*Placental Abnormalities DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.81579* 

