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Title: |
Intrauterine Growth Retardation in Case of a Stillbirth: How Does It Really Matter? | |||||||||||||||||||
| Authors: | Norbert Pásztor, M.D., Zoltan Kozinszky, M.D., Ph.D., and Attila Keresztúri, M.D., Ph.D. | |||||||||||||||||||
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OBJECTIVE: To compare the autopsy and placental histopathological examination results of intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) and non-IUGR fetal deaths. STUDY DESIGN: Postmortem examination and obstetric risk of stillbirths from 1996 to 2012 were reviewed retrospectively at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Szeged. Forty-seven percent of the 153 stillbirths out of the 34,673 births were registered as IUGR. RESULTS: Umbilical cord anomaly as an underlying cause of death was significantly less prevalent among IUGR stillbirths and predominantly occurred in late pregnancy. Oligohydramnios (p<0.001) and maternal hypertensive diseases (<0.05) were associated with greater risk of IUGR among stillbirths. Placental insufficiency was more associated to preeclampsia (p<0.05) and maternal hypertensive diseases (p<0.001) among the IUGR group than in the non-IUGR group. Any degree of placental degeneration was not a distinguishable factor for growth retardation. CONCLUSION: A more intensive surveillance of IUGR and high-risk pregnancies could lead to an improvement in the stillbirth rate; however, the prevention strategies of IUGR stillbirths remain questionable because of very early prematurity. |
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| Keywords: | autopsy; fetal mortality; infant, premature; intrauterine growth retardation; obstetric risk; placenta; placental histology; pregnancy; pregnancy complications; stillbirth | |||||||||||||||||||
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