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Fetal and Neonatal Pathology pp 199–222Cite as

Prematurity

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Abstract

The aim of every obstetrician is to achieve safe delivery of a baby whose development has reached such a stage as to enable him or her to be ready for extrauterine life. It has long been recognised that some babies have not acquired this degree of maturity at birth, and are, in the widest sense of the word, “premature”. These infants are at risk of increased morbidity and mortality; they are usually small, and many, but not all, have had a shortened gestational period.

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Authors
  1. Gillian Batcup
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Paediatric Pathology and Cytogenetics, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh, EH9 1LF, UK

    Jean W. Keeling MBBS, FRCPath, FRCP (Edin) (Consultant Paediatric Pathologist, Honorary Senior Lecturer in Pathology) (Consultant Paediatric Pathologist, Honorary Senior Lecturer in Pathology)

  2. University of Edinburgh, UK

    Jean W. Keeling MBBS, FRCPath, FRCP (Edin) (Consultant Paediatric Pathologist, Honorary Senior Lecturer in Pathology) (Consultant Paediatric Pathologist, Honorary Senior Lecturer in Pathology)

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© 1993 Springer-Verlag London

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Batcup, G. (1993). Prematurity. In: Keeling, J.W. (eds) Fetal and Neonatal Pathology. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3802-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3802-0_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-3804-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-3802-0

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