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Biomedical subjects

G Altshuler

Publications and source records attributed to G Altshuler.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Placental pathology compared with clinical outcome: a retrospective blind review.

The usefulness of the microscopic examination of the placenta, associated membranes, and umbilical cord was tested in a retrospective clinical review. Fifty-nine patients with inflammation were matched by sex, race, and gestation with 59 patients without inflammation. Blind review of the clinical course of these infants revealed five cases of culture-positive septicemia, 28 cases of probable sepsis, 39 cases of possible sepsis, and 46 normal infants. The clinical categorization was significantly correlated with the microscopic appearance of the placenta, membranes, and cord. Triple vessel vasculitis in the umbilical cord vessels and chorionic microabscesses were significantly related to the incidence of proven, probable, and possible clinical sepsis. The microscopic examination of the umbilical cord and placenta provides a useful, but not infallible, tool in the evaluation of sepsis in the newly born infant.

Abscess↗

Maternal endotoxemia, fetal anomalies, and central nervous system damage: a rat model of a human problem.

Endotoxemia is a common consequence of the gram-negative urinary tract infections that complicate human pregnancies. Only rarely, however, have the effects of maternal endotoxemia been evaluated by animal experiments or by human investigations. Data of the Collaborative Perinatal Study suggest an association between maternal endotoxemia and fetal central nervous system damage. For these reasons we performed controlled studies of the fetal effects of treatment of pregnant rats, at appropriate gestational ages, with E. coli endotoxin. We found a maximum 7 per cent incidence of fetal anomalies in the treated animals but no anomalies in controls. Placental light microscopy examinations indicated the mechanism to include Shwartzman-lixemia produces periventricular leukomalacia. We obtained an incidence of neuronal necrosis in treated fetuses that was 10 times greater than in control fetuses. It is therefore of importance that additional studies of the pathologic effects of endotoxin be performed.

Animals↗

Antenatal infection: adequate protection against hyaline membrane disease?

It has been argued that fetal and placental infections decrease the incidence of hyaline membrane disease (HMD). However, others contend that this is not so. We performed a rigidly controlled clinicopathologic investigation of one group of infants with evidence of severe antenatal infection compared with another group free of infection. This study shows that placental infection correlated positively with neonatal sepsis and that in this series of patients neither infection nor prolonged rupture of membranes is associated with a decrease of HMD. Our data do not support the proposal that antenatal infections protect the neonate against later development of HMD.

Escherichia coli Infections↗

Pathological features of the placenta in fetal death.

Few studies of the histopathological features of the placenta in cases of fetal death are available. We will describe the placental findings from 24 midtrimester spontaneous abortions and 54 stillborn infants of more than 28 weeks' gestation. In almost 100% of midtrimester abortions and in 48% of the placentas from stillborn infants of more than 28 weeks' gestation, chorioamnionitis, deciduitis, and/or villitis were present. Because of this very high percentage of lesions, which suggests an infectious causation, it is mandatory that studies be performed that might identify pathogens. One third of the stillborn infants of more than 28 weeks' gestation were associated with maternal complications (diabetes, preeclampsia, and urinary tract infection), in addition to placental fetal vasculopathy, ischemia, infarcts, and chorangiosis (villous capillary hyperplasia). We emphasize the use of the placenta for the recognition of maternal diabetes.

Female↗

The placental pathology of small-for-gestational age infants.

There is a lack of placental studies of newborn infants who are small for gestational age (SGA). In a gross and light micorscopy evaluation of 63 referred placentas associated with singleton SGA infants, abnormalities were found in 58. In many instances these were considered of causal significance. Abnormalities included ischemic lesions (43 per cent), often related to a history of pre-eclampsia. In this group of specimens, severe X-cell proliferation was present, possibly related to a mechanism of delay of the onset of lavor. Approximately 25 per cent of the placentas showed villitis of unknown etiology. This is presumed to be of infectious etiology, probably viral. Sixteen per cent of the infants died.

Birth Weight↗

Single umbilical artery. Correlation of clinical status and umbilical cord histology.

Although numerous reports are available concerning infants who have single umbilical artery, there are no studies that correlate the incidence of congenital malformations or prognosis of such infants with the presence or absence of an atrophied artery in their associated umbilical cords. For this reason, we studied 48 infants who have single umbilical artery. No significant differences were detected in congenital malformations or neonatal mortality between infants with atrophy of one of their arteries and infants with arterial aplasia.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗

The ovarian dysgenesis of trisomy 18.

Ovarian abnormalities have been reported as a rare feature of the trisomy 18 syndrome. Gross and histological examination of autopsy material from 13 female infants with this syndrome revealed that ovarian dysgenesis, in varying degrees of severity, is more common than is indicated by the literature. The characteristic changes are reduction in germ cells due to necrobiosis, and the presence of mesothelial clefts and abnormal masses of stromal cells.

Autopsy↗

Amniotic bans syndrome in an immature fetus.

A case of a 14-week fetus with congenital malformation due to amniotic bands is reported, including a description of the placenta. The literature is briefly reviewed, and attention is drawn to the occurrence of this syndrome in the immature human fetus.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗