Placental assessment provides insight into mechanisms and timing of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy

摘要

A recent, case-control study of the placenta in 73 cases of neonatal encephalopathy (NE) by Vik et al. [1] provides insight into mechanisms and timing of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). The study included approximately 50% in which "birth asphyxia" was considered the most likely cause of the NE. The analyses of the placenta were primarily prospective and utilized a careful, newly formulated, systematic approach to histolog-ical analysis. The histological parameters assessed were grouped into three categories: inflammatory (e.g., chorioamnionitis), or maternal or fetal vascular malperfusion.