Pregnancy condition that means Kim Kardashian may need uterus removed becoming more common in Canada: Doctors

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If you take a quick peek on Kim Kardashian West’s Instragram feed, her life looks picture-perfect. The feed is an endless stream of her and her burgeoning baby bump, her adorable daughter North West and her superstar husband Kanye West.

But the glamazon mom recently shed that image of a perfect life to reveal she struggled for a year to get pregnant with her second child and may have to have her uterus removed.

In a recent interview with C Magazine, the 34-year-old mom revealed that during her first pregnancy she had placenta accreta. As a result of the serious pregnancy condition, she had to have a few small operations, making it harder to conceive her second child. After trying to conceive for more than a year, the selfie queen is pregnant with a second bundle of joy. While a joyful time for her, her doctor had to tell her some sad news: She is likely to get placenta accreta again and was told she might end up having to have her uterus removed. Kardashian West called the news “a little scary.”

Rising over time

Kardashian West is not alone in dealing with this scary condition. While still uncommon among Canadian women, placenta accreta is on the rise.

According to the Mayo Clinic, Placenta accreta is a serious pregnancy condition that occurs when blood vessels, and other parts of the placenta, grow too deeply into the uterine wall. The placenta might invade the muscles of the uterus, which is called placenta increta, or grow through the uterine wall, which is called placenta percreta. Women with this high-risk pregnancy complication will likely need a Caesarean section (C-section), followed by the surgical removal of the uterus, otherwise known as a hysterectomy, said the website.

The placenta usually detaches from the uterine wall after childbirth. But, for women with placenta accreta, the whole, or part of, the placenta stays attached to the uterine wall, which can cause severe blood loss after delivery, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The condition used to be quite rare. It is still uncommon, occurring in about one in 695 women in Canada, said Dr. Andrea Neilson, an obstetrician/gynecologist (OB/GYN) with Lois Hole Hospital for Women in Edmonton, in an email interview with Yahoo Canada.

But, the number of cases has been steadily climbing. One of the risk factors for developing the condition is having had a C-section, said Dr. Neilson. And, as the number of Canadian women having C-sections has risen, so has the number developing placenta accreta.

In Brazil, where the C-section rate is quite high there has also been a rise in the number of Brazilian women developing this serious pregnancy condition, said Dr. Yolanda Kirke, an OB/GYN who practices gynecology at Women’s College Hospital and does deliveries at St. Joseph’s Health Centre in Toronto.

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Delivery time

The main risk for pregnant women with this condition is intractable bleeding when delivering the baby, said Dr. Neilson.

“The bleeding can be very severe and life threatening and will usually warrant a blood transfusion,” said Dr. Neilson. “If not controllable quickly, an emergency hysterectomy must be done to save the woman’s life.”

The condition can be deadly, with a mortality rate of about seven per cent, added Dr. Kirke.

Timely topic

While not many women can directly relate to Kardashian West’s glamourous life, the condition she might get again with her second pregnancy is something regular Canadian women should be informed about.

“This is relevant to Canadian women because decreasing the number of C-sections is the only way to decrease the risk of placenta accreta. If a woman is considering a C-section for elective reasons, she should be aware of the increasing risk of placenta accreta,” warned Dr. Neilson.

If a woman has already had one C-section, but her doctor thinks she is a good candidate for VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean) in a subsequent pregnancy, she should strongly consider it, advised Dr. Neilson.

That’s something very serious to think about the next time you find yourself scrolling through Kardashian West’s Instagram feed.