A Retrospective study on perinatal post-mortems

Abstract

A post-mortem examination is the key to the recognition of pathologies related to perinatal deaths. A perinatal death could be related to fetal, maternal or placental factors. A complete perinatal post-mortem (PPM) includes examination of the dead body and the placenta. The PPM findings assist the clinical team in confirming their clinical findings and uncover the additional pathologies, and the family for future pregnancy planning. This study was carried out to identify the number of perinatal post mortems (PPMs) reported during the study period, the number of PPMs with multiple congenital anomalies and the number of PPMs accompanied by a placenta and the number of placentae with identifiable pathology. This study was on already reported PPMs in a tertiary care center from January 2011- August 2016. Multiple congenital anomalies were noted in 14% (16/118) of the PPMs. Placentae were submitted for examination in 26% (31/118) with clinically significant placental pathologies in 23% (7/31). In 64% (76/118) of PPMs there were no gross abnormality in the fetus/baby. The placenta was not available for examination in 72% (55/76) and therefore, the possibility of placental pathology, which might have led to the death, could not be excluded.