We are families who have experienced stillbirth due to an undetected abnormal placenta size and families who learned their living baby survived a very small placenta. We have joined with concerned citizens, researchers and providers in recognizing the opportunity to save lives today by incorporating Estimated Placental Volume (EPV) measurements into standard prenatal care. Read our stories.

Since 2009, EPV has been available as a simple ultrasound measurement to detect extremely small or large placentas. However, it is still not commonly used.

Formed in 2019, the all-volunteer Measure the Placenta team would like to see placenta size considered in prenatal care when deciding on the safest time for a baby to be born, in order to potentially reduce stillbirths.

Based on stillbirth rates in the United States, we conservatively estimate that 40,000 stillbirths might have been prevented in the last decade if EPV had been a standard of prenatal care. However the vast majority of patients today do not receive placenta volume measurements for their baby during pregnancy.

We assess this failure in preventive care as follows:

(1) Lack of Awareness of the risks presented by a very small or large placenta,

(2) Lack of Directive from key medical associations, and

(3) Lack of Training among practitioners.

We aim to raise awareness and improve standards of care.