CAUSES OF FETAL AND NEONATAL DEATH

Autopsy was performed on 601 out of 654 (91.9%) fetus and newborn case s of death which occurred during a four-year period between 1988-1991 at Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine, Gynecology Depa rtment and Neonatal Unit. According to autopsy findings, among the mai n causes of death in newborns were infection, hyaline membrane disease , congenital anomalies, perinatal hypoxia and immaturity, and in the f etal period, perinatal hypoxia, asphyxia and congenital anomalies. In these cases, when pathologic and clinical findings were examined, it w as observed that in 204 out of 301 newborn cases (67.8%) the clinical findings were well correlated with the autopsy findings; in 97 (32.2%) of the remaining cases the main disease and primary causes of death c ould not be determined through clinical findings; in 69 (23%) cases, i n addition to the clinical diagnosis on autopsy, miner defects were de termined on autopsy which were not directly related to death. When cli nical and autopsy findings were compared, diagnoses with the highest d iscordance were pulmonary hemorrhage infection and intracranial hemorr hage.