Placental morphology of low-birth-weight infants born at term.

Gross and microscopic examination in 50 placentas of low-birth-weight infants showed: (1) hematogenous infection (74%); (2) placental circulatory disturbances related to maternal hypertension (14%); (3) abnormal placentation (6%); (4) isolated villous dismaturity (4%), and (5) diffuse chorioangiomatosis (2%). As the main placental lesion associated to low-birth-weight in this series was hematogenous infection, the author stress the validity of the virologic, bacteriologic and parasitologic examination of the placenta combined with the morphologic one in the detection of the etiology of intrauterine infection.