Spontaneous abortions and terminations of pregnancy: histological differences

Curettings from eight gravid uteri are compared with material curetted from 2081 uteri after spontaneous abortions. The outstanding feature of the spontaneous material is the decidual polymorph infiltrate. This was absent in seven of the termination specimens. The one case exhibiting a polymorph infiltrate showed other features of degeneration which suggested that a spontaneous abortion may have been developing before termination occurred. This difference between terminated and spontaneously aborted material may provide a basis for elucidating mechanisms in the latter.