Pathology of preterm birth as depicted in preterm placentae

Objective: To determine the frequency of pathological lesions in preterm placentae and categorize them into ischemic, inflammatory and coagulopathy related lesions. Study design: Descriptive cross sectional study. Place & duration of study: Department of Pathology, Foundation University Medical College, Islamabad Six months from May 2010 to November 2010. Materials and methods: Seventy two preterm placentae of women delivering live newborn of < 37 weeks gestation were selected by consecutive sampling. Representative sections were processed for paraffin embedding and H& E stained slides were evaluated under microscope. Microscopic lesions of preterm placentae were recorded and categorized into ischemic, coagulopathy related, inflammatory lesions and miscellaneous lesions. Data was entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17. Results The mean gestational age of mothers who delivered preterm was 34.718 weeks (S.D= ± 2.77).The mean birth weight of babies who were delivered preterm was 2.78 kg (S.D: ±0.418). Most of the preterm deliveries was spontaneous (25%; 18 cases). On microscopy, placental lesions were found in 94% (n=68) cases while only 5.5% (n=4) cases did not show any lesions. The microscopic lesions in most of the preterm placentae were categorized as ischemic lesions (118.7%, n=45) followed by inflammatory (52.8% n=20) lesions and coagulopathy related lesions (29% n=11). Conclusion: To conclude, we have found ischemic lesions to be the most frequent lesion in preterm placentae in our hospital. Thus uteroplacental ischemic pathogenesis in most common of the preterm deliveries. Key words : Placenta, Microscope, Premature birth, Ischemia, Pathology.