Pathology of the Human Placenta, 5th Edition (eBook)

Pathology of the Human Placenta remains the authoritative text in the field and is respected and used by pathologists and obstetrician-gynecologists alike. This fifth edition reflects new advances in the field and includes 800 illustrations, 173 of them in color. The detailed index has been improved and the tables updated. Defined terms are highlighted in bold for easy identification, and further findings are discussed in small type throughout each chapter. Advances in genetics and molecular biology continue to make the study of the placenta one of vast diagnostic and legal importance.

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Most obstetricians and pediatricians would agree that the examination of the placenta often helps to explain an abnormal neona tal outcome. As early as in 1892, Ballantyne wrote, A diseased foetus without its placenta is an imperfect specimen, and a description of a foetal malady, unless accompanied by a notice of the placental condition, is incomplete. Deductions drawn from such a case cannot be considered as conc- sive, for in the missing placenta or cord may have existed the cause of the disease and death. During intrauterine life the foetus, the membranes, the cord and the placenta form an organic whole, and disease of any part must react upon and affect the others. Similar thoughts were succinctly detailed in Price's (1950) discussion of his concept of the prenatal biases as they affected twins. His contribution also admonishes us that placental study is a sine qua non for a more perfect understanding of fetal development. Despite all this understanding of the past and appreciation for plac- tal disease, great resistance still exists to perform the task of placental examination routinely. For many pathologists, therefore, the placenta has remained a mysterious organ.