Histologic Analysis of Placental Tissue in First Trimester Abortions

Abstract

The value of histologic evaluation in the analysis of material from first trimester abortions is not completely defined. We prospectively analyzed placenta and decidua from 75 first trimester, spontaneous abortions to ascertain if morphologic features were predictive of karyotype. The histologic features analyzed included hydropic villus change, villus fibrosis, villus scalloping with trophoblastic invaginations, atypical stromal cells, aggregates of lymphocytes in placenta or decidua, and acute inflammation of placenta or decidua. Normal karyotypes were observed in 44 cases and abnormal karyotypes were demonstrated in 31. The presence of villus scalloping with trophoblastic invagination was significantly associated with abnormal karyotypes, particularly triploidy, and the demonstration of acute inflammation was seen significantly more often in cases with normal karyotypes. We conclude that histology can provide only a suggestion as to the likelihood of an abnormal karyotype; the findings are not specific enough to obviate the need for karyotyping in the individual case.

Role of dilatation and curettage performed for spontaneous or induced abortion in the etiology of endometrial thinning

“…This finding indicates that the effect of D&C on the endometrium should be investigated in each indication. Although the reason that the endometrium is thinner in patients with D&C performed for spontaneous abortion is not known, histologic changes, such as acute inflammation in the endometrium of a spontaneous abortion, 14 may be a factor. The present study was designed to observe endometrial thickness during a natural menstrual cycle.…”

The contribution of placental oxidative stress to early pregnancy failure

“…Some authors have found it possible to correlate villous morphology with specific chromosomal abnormalities 7,8 or to differentiate between normal and abnormal karyotypes. 9 However, most have found no association between villous morphological features and chromosomal abnormalities, with the exception of partial molar triploidy. [10][11][12][13][14][15] One explanation for this apparent lack of success is that both euploid and aneuploid pregnancy failures are associated with villous morphological changes occurring after embryonic demise, related mainly to placental degeneration.…”

Histopathological Changes in the Chorionic Villi and Endometrial Decidual Tissues in the Product of Conception of Spontaneous Abortion Cases

“…As karyotyping was not done in our study, the association of abnormal karyotype with particular pattern of histopathological changes could not be ascertained. 17 In the present study, the mean age at the time of abortion was 25.09 ± 5.58 years with minimum age was 15 years and maximum age was 45 years. Majority of women belonged to age group 21-30 years (62.2%) while only 2.7% were above 40 years which shows highly significance.…”