Diagnostic value of perinatal autopsies: analysis of 486 cases
-
Nalan Neşe
und
Yeşim Bülbül
Abstract
Aim:
Autopsy is a beneficial procedure to determine the cause of death and the frequency of anomalies in perinatal losses. Even in the event of an autopsy not providing any additional information, completion of the procedure confirming the clinical diagnoses gives reassurance to both clinicians and parents. Here we present a 15-year archival study based on findings of perinatal autopsies.
Design and methods:
Four hundred and eighty-six cases from our archive were reviewed and according to the findings they were divided into three subcategories; (1) miscarriages (MCF); (2) fetuses terminated (FTA) for vital anomalies detected by prenatal ultrasonography; (3) premature or term newborns died within first month of life (neonates: NN). Autopsies were documented and classified according to week/age of cases, anomalies and causes of abortion or death.
Results:
Two hundred and twenty-six of 486 cases (46.5%) were in MCF group while 227 (46.7%) and 33 (6.8%) were of them in FTA and NN groups, respectively. In FTA group, the most frequent anomaly detected was neural tube defects. In NN group, prematurity related complications were the most common cause of death. The autopsy process was found valuable in 39.7% of all cases.
Conclusions:
We suggest that autopsy procedure is diagnostically valuable even in situations when there is USG findings that are confirming FTAs or there is no important major fetal or placental anomaly detected in MCFs.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the other pathologists who performed a part of autopsies and residents for detailed examination who worked in Celal Bayar University, Faculty of Medicine, and Department of Pathology between 2000 and 2015 and the Birsen Gizem Özamrak, M. D. for reviewing and proof reading the manuscript.
Author’s statement
Conflict of interest: Authors state no conflict of interest.
Material and Methods: Informed consent: Informed consent has been obtained from all individuals included in this study.
Ethical approval: The research related to human subject use has complied with all the relevant national regulations, and institutional policies, and is in accordance with the tenets of the Helsinki Declaration, and has been approved by the authors’ institutional review board or equivalent committee.
Contribution to authorship: Nalan Neşe, MD is responsible for collecting of cases and writing the article. Yesim Bülbül, MD gave an assistance for gynecologic and obstetric consultation.
Funding: There is no financial support.
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©2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Review article
- Fetal cardiac tumors: clinical features, management and prognosis
- Original articles – Obstetrics
- Chronic inflammatory lesions of the placenta are associated with an up-regulation of amniotic fluid CXCR3: A marker of allograft rejection
- Gaps in obstetric care processes – we can only improve what is being measured
- Tokophobia (fear of childbirth): prevalence and risk factors
- Adjuvant administration of 17-α-hydroxy-progesterone caproate in women with three or more second trimester pregnancy losses undergoing cervical cerclage is no more effective than cerclage alone
- The role of ultrasound in the prediction of birth weight discordance in twin pregnancies: are we there yet?
- NLRP genes and their role in preeclampsia and multi-locus imprinting disorders
- Original articles – Fetus
- Diagnostic value of perinatal autopsies: analysis of 486 cases
- Feto-maternal osmotic balance at term. A prospective observational study
- Original articles – Newborn
- Oxygen saturation trends in normal healthy term newborns: normal vaginal delivery vs. elective cesarean section
- Causes of death among full term stillbirths and early neonatal deaths in the Region of Southern Denmark
- Critical congenital heart disease screening with a pulse oximetry in neonates
- DHA reduces oxidative stress following hypoxia-ischemia in newborn piglets: a study of lipid peroxidation products in urine and plasma
- A non-invasive method to rule out transient tachypnea of the newborn (TTN): fetal pulmonary artery acceleration to ejection time ratio
- Letter to the Editor
- Clarification of the methods and statistics in the study “Planned home birth and the association with neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy”
- Clarification of the methods and statistics in the study “Planned home birth and the association with neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy”
- Reply to: Planned home birth and the association with neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy
- Response to the Letter to the Editor, “Risk factors of uterine rupture with a special interest to uterine fundal pressure: methodological issues”
- Re: Utility of routine urine CMV PCR and total serum IgM testing of small for gestational age infants: a single center review
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Review article
- Fetal cardiac tumors: clinical features, management and prognosis
- Original articles – Obstetrics
- Chronic inflammatory lesions of the placenta are associated with an up-regulation of amniotic fluid CXCR3: A marker of allograft rejection
- Gaps in obstetric care processes – we can only improve what is being measured
- Tokophobia (fear of childbirth): prevalence and risk factors
- Adjuvant administration of 17-α-hydroxy-progesterone caproate in women with three or more second trimester pregnancy losses undergoing cervical cerclage is no more effective than cerclage alone
- The role of ultrasound in the prediction of birth weight discordance in twin pregnancies: are we there yet?
- NLRP genes and their role in preeclampsia and multi-locus imprinting disorders
- Original articles – Fetus
- Diagnostic value of perinatal autopsies: analysis of 486 cases
- Feto-maternal osmotic balance at term. A prospective observational study
- Original articles – Newborn
- Oxygen saturation trends in normal healthy term newborns: normal vaginal delivery vs. elective cesarean section
- Causes of death among full term stillbirths and early neonatal deaths in the Region of Southern Denmark
- Critical congenital heart disease screening with a pulse oximetry in neonates
- DHA reduces oxidative stress following hypoxia-ischemia in newborn piglets: a study of lipid peroxidation products in urine and plasma
- A non-invasive method to rule out transient tachypnea of the newborn (TTN): fetal pulmonary artery acceleration to ejection time ratio
- Letter to the Editor
- Clarification of the methods and statistics in the study “Planned home birth and the association with neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy”
- Clarification of the methods and statistics in the study “Planned home birth and the association with neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy”
- Reply to: Planned home birth and the association with neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy
- Response to the Letter to the Editor, “Risk factors of uterine rupture with a special interest to uterine fundal pressure: methodological issues”
- Re: Utility of routine urine CMV PCR and total serum IgM testing of small for gestational age infants: a single center review
