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Journal of Clinical Pathology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Pathology
. 1971 Mar;24(2):159–169. doi: 10.1136/jcp.24.2.159

The perinatal postmortem examination

F A Langley 1,2
PMCID: PMC476937  PMID: 5551383

Abstract

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.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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