Recording placental size

It is routine practice in obstetric hospitals to record the weight of the placenta after each delivery, but the practical usefulness of this measurement has been much debated. Theoretically attractive and more accurate estimations of placental size, such as volume, show no better correlation with birth weight; the usefulness of such relationships is in doubt. Although the variations in size appear interesting, our findings add weight to the suggestions of earlier and recent workers that traditional routine measurements which have virtually no significance should be abandoned until some more meaningful procedure can be found.