2 FETAL DEATHS ASSOCIATED WITH MATERNAL SEPSIS AND WITH THROMBOSIS OFTHE INTERVILLOUS SPACE OF THE PLACENTA

The placental pathology in two second trimester fetal losses associate d with mild maternal disseminated intravascular coagulation are report ed. Case one had a dental abscess, a leukocytosis of 36 300 white bloo d cells/m, and evidence of mild consumptive coagulopathy at 20 weeks. Case two had septic findings including disseminated intravascular thro mbosis associated with pyelonephritis. The placentae had extensive int ervillous thrombosis at the periphery of spiral arterial flow. It is h ypothesized that in mild disseminated intravascular coagulation, the t rophoblast inhibits fibrinolysis, favouring thrombosis perhaps due to production of plasminogen activator inhibitor. (C) 1998 W. B. Saunders Company Ltd. Placenta (1998), 19, 385-389.