Determining The Cause Of A Perinatal Death

National Institute Health, Oct 09, 2006

In order to determine the cause of a perinatal death it is important to correlate the postmortem findings with the clinical histories of both mother and infant. The postmortem examination of a newborn infant differs from that of an adult in a number of ways, especially in the method of removal and dissection of the brain, the examination of the cervical spine, the dissection of the cardiovascular system for congenital abnormalities, and the examination of the placenta.

A systematic technique for performing a perinatal necropsy is described. Stress is laid on measurement of the size of the infant and of the individual organs and comparison of these with known standards, allowance being made for the maturity of the infant.