Placental examination in nonmacerated stillbirth versus neonatal mortality

Aim: To retrospectively statistically compare clinical and placental phenotypes of nonmacerated fetuses and live-born perinatal deaths in 3rd trimester pregnancies. Methods: Twenty-five clinical and 47 placental phenotypes were statistically compared among 93 cases of nonmacerated (intrapartum, or recent antepartum death) 3rd trimester fetal deaths (Group 1), 118 3rd trimester neonatal deaths (Group 2) and 4285 cases without perinatal mortality (Group 3). Results: Sixteen clinical and placental phenotypes were statistically significantly different between Group 3 and the two groups of perinatal deaths, which included eight placental phenotypes of fetal vascular malperfusion and eight other placental phenotypes of various etiology (amnion nodosum, 2-vessel umbilical cord, villous edema, increased extracellular matrix of chorionic villi, erythroblasts in fetal blood and trophoblastic lesions of shallow placentation). Statistically significant differences between Groups 1 and 2 were scant (oligohydramnios, fetal malformations, cesarean sections, hypercoiled umbilical cord and amnion nodosum being more common in the latter, and retroplacental hematoma more common in the former). Conclusion: Placental examination in neonatal mortality shows thrombotic pathology related to umbilical cord compromise and features of shallow placental implantation that are similar to those in nonmacerated stillbirth; however, the features of placental abruption were more common in recent antepartum death, as were the features related to neonatal congenital malformations in neonatal deaths.