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Placental Tissue Destruction and Insufficiency From COVID-19 Causes Stillbirth and Neonatal Death From Hypoxic-Ischemic Injury
Perinatal Pathol, GA 30322 USA.
Fiocruz MS, Brazil.
Comenius Univ, Slovakia.
Univ Hosp Leuven, Belgium.
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2022 (English)In: Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, ISSN 0003-9985, E-ISSN 1543-2165, Vol. 146, no 6, p. 660-676Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Context.-Perinatal death is an increasingly important problem as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues, but the mechanism of death has been unclear. Objective.-To evaluate the role of the placenta in causing stillbirth and neonatal death following maternal infection with COVID-19 and confirmed placental positivity for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Design.-Case-based retrospective clinicopathologic analysis by a multinational group of 44 perinatal specialists from 12 countries of placental and autopsy pathology findings from 64 stillborns and 4 neonatal deaths having placentas testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 following delivery to mothers with COVID-19. Results.-Of the 3 findings constituting SARS-CoV-2 placentitis, all 68 placentas had increased fibrin deposition and villous trophoblast necrosis and 66 had chronic histiocytic intervillositis. Sixty-three placentas had massive perivillous fibrin deposition. Severe destructive placental disease from SARS-CoV-2 placentitis averaged 77.7% tissue involvement. Other findings included multiple intervillous thrombi (37%; 25 of 68) and chronic villitis (32%; 22 of 68). The majority (19; 63%) of the 30 autopsies revealed no significant fetal abnormalities except for intrauterine hypoxia and asphyxia. Among all 68 cases, SARS-CoV-2 was detected from a body specimen in 16 of 28 cases tested, most frequently from nasopharyngeal swabs. Four autopsied stillborns had SARS-CoV-2 identified in internal organs. Conclusions.-The pathology abnormalities composing SARS-CoV-2 placentitis cause widespread and severe placental destruction resulting in placental malperfusion and insufficiency. In these cases, intrauterine and perinatal death likely results directly from placental insufficiency and fetal hypoxic-ischemic injury. There was no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 involvement of the fetus had a role in causing these deaths.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
COLL AMER PATHOLOGISTS , 2022. Vol. 146, no 6, p. 660-676
National Category
Cancer and Oncology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-186156DOI: 10.5858/arpa.2022-0029-SAISI: 000805944600002PubMedID: 35142798OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-186156DiVA, id: diva2:1674783
Note

Funding Agencies|Slovak Research and Development Agency grant [PP-COVID-20-051]; Belgian Fund for Scientific Research [40002773]; Fetus for Life charity

Available from: 2022-06-22 Created: 2022-06-22 Last updated: 2022-06-22

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Blomberg, Marie
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Division of Children's and Women's HealthFaculty of Medicine and Health SciencesDepartment of Gynaecology and Obstetrics in Linköping
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