[Peripartal mortality in an autopsy sample of the Pathologic Institute of the Department of Medicine of the Karl Marx University in Leipzig 1960-1982].

Between 1960 and 1982 we have autopsied 88 cases of peripartal mortality in the pathological institute of the department of medicine, Karl-Marx-University of Leipzig. According to the legal instruction in the GDR we have subdivided in direct and indirect peripartal death cases (direct and indirect relation between maternal mortality and pregnancy). We have compared both the groups (1960-1969, 1970-1982) and have found: The number of cases with indirect and direct relation between maternal mortality and pregnancy is decreased markedly in the second time period. The composition within the two time groups is very different in respect to the cause of the mortality: Between 1960 and 1969 amnioticfluid embolism, thromboembolism and air embolism, furthermore preeclampsia and their consequences as well as hemorrhages sub partu and postpartum could be found. In the second time group the most frequent causes of peripartal mortality are the different forms of embolism and preeclampsia, but then cases with a indirect relation between mortality and pregnancy with diseases of the cardiopulmonary system and of the kidneys.