[Placental anomalies and neonatal development of hypotrophic infants]

The study of 181 hypotrophic children led to the following conclusions: 1. In pregnancies preceding the birth of hypotrophic children, placenta is significantly more frequently altered than in all other cases. 2. Among all the changes observed in the structure of placenta, ischemic necrosis of placental villi seems to be the worst, in terms of immediate neonatal evolution. Hypoglycemia, especially, is most often observed in such instances. Consequently, examination of the structure of placenta allows a prognosis at the time of birth of a child with intra-uterine growth retardation; its practice should become generalized.