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The Perinatal Necropsy

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Fetal and Neonatal Pathology

The importance to clinical practice of information obtained by adequate necropsy examination of babies dying in the perinatal and neonatal periods (Alberman 1980) is often not fully appreciated by histopathologists providing a biopsy-oriented service for adult patients. Examination of stillborn infants has been particularly neglected. This is probably related to negative expectations concerning the likelihood of making specific diagnoses.

Necropsy information is of practical importance at three different levels of clinical practice. First, it is important to the family of the dead baby and to the clinicians involved in their care. Second, necropsy findings are necessary for adequate audit of unit policies and practices. Third, data derived from postmortem examination make an important contribution to regional or national statistics by complementing clinical data collection. Some necropsy data are appropriate to all three levels of enquiry, but each requires answers to specific questions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Infirmary of Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh, Royal Hospital for Sick Children and Royal, Edinburgh, UK

    Jean W. Keeling FRCPath, FRCPEdin, FRCPCH

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  1. Jean W. Keeling FRCPath, FRCPEdin, FRCPCH
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Formerly Consultant Paediatric Pathologist Royal Hospital for Sick Children and Royal Infi rmary Edinburgh and Honorary Senior Lecturer, University of Edinburgh, UK

    Jean W. Keeling FRCPath, FRCPEdin, FRCPCH

  2. Women's and Children's Hospital Adelaide and Clinical Professor, University of Adelaide, Australia

    T. Yee Khong MD, FRCPath, FRCPA (Consultant Pathologist) (Consultant Pathologist)

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Keeling, J.W. (2007). The Perinatal Necropsy. In: Keeling, J.W., Khong, T.Y. (eds) Fetal and Neonatal Pathology. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84628-743-5_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84628-743-5_2

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