[Macroscopically determined placentary conditions in the case of underweight neonates (author's transl)]

The placentary conditions (weight of placenta, placenta/infant weight index, kind of attachment of the umbilical cord and allantochorial vasculature) of underweight neonates (eutrophic premature infants and hypotrophic babies born at term), which were macroscopically determined under routine clinical conditions, are compared with those of eutrophic babies born at term after clinically and anamnestically normal pregnancies. Significantly lower weights of placenta and significantly higher placenta/infant weight indices of underweight neonates must be differently assessed for prematurely born babies and hypotrophic infants born at term. The significant increase in the case of underweight neonates of the disperse type of allantochorial vasculature does not suggest any significant relations to either lower weights of placenta or lower weights of newborn infants within the individual classification groups. There is no increase in the number of marginal-velamentous attachments of umbilical cords in the case of underweight neonates. Also, reference is made to the limited importance of macroscopically determined placentary conditions to individual cases.