A placental infarction results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the placenta, causing its cells to die.

Large placental infarcts are associated with vascular abnormalities, e.g. hypertrophic decidual vasculopathy, as seen in hypertension.

[1] Very large infarcts lead to placental insufficiency and may result in fetal death.

This method still needs more research and may not be completely effective in noticing infarcts.

[2] Maternal floor infarcts are not considered to be true placental infarcts, as they result from deposition of fibrin around the chorionic villi, i.e. perivillous fibrin deposition.