Pathology of the Human Placenta, 5th Edition (5th ed.)

Most obstetricians and pediatricians would agree that the examination of the placenta often helps to explain an abnormal neona tal outcome. As early as in 1892, Ballantyne wrote, A diseased foetus without its placenta is an imperfect specimen, and a description of a foetal malady, unless accompanied by a notice of the placental condition, is incomplete. Deductions drawn from such a case cannot be considered as conc- sive, for in the missing placenta or cord may have existed the cause of the dise