Placental histopathology and perinatal care [Istopatologia placentare e sorveglianza périnatale.]

The histological examination of the placenta helps to better understand both pathological pregnancies and fetal growth defects, therefore the true beneficiary of the histological diagnosis is the newborn. Of the 492 newborns born between the 1 April and 30 June 2000 we analized 142 placentas, following a modified Macpherson e Szulman's protocol. Only 73 of the 142 newborns have been hospitalized in the pathological division. The placenta histological diagnosis of the remaining 69 hospitalized in "Rooming in" showed that only 10 placentas were in the normality; 22 placentas showed alterations referable to a dismetabolic, disglicicemyc and hypertension maternal pathology without there being lesions that could interfere with the development and maturation of the fetus; 37 placentas showed indicative lesions of hypoxic and hyschemic fetal sofference of varing gravity. These data show how the histological examination of the placenta has many benefits in the immediate care of newborns, in subsequent evaluations and in the pédiatrie age.