[Studies on the relationship between quantitative histometry and obstetric complications].

Quantitative histometry of the placenta seems to make it possible to correlate the histopathological changes with various obstetric complications and disorders more precisely. In the present paper, the relationship between the histopathological changes in the placenta and the obstetric complications was investigated by quantitative histometry based on the standardized categories with uncomplicated normal cases as the controls. Among the obstetric complications, special emphasis has been placed on the pregnancies complicated by toxemia of pregnancy and diabetes mellitus. The obstetric disorders of postmature pregnancy and prolonged delivery have also been related to the quantitative histometry. It was revealed that the cytotrophoblast proliferation associated with the formation of syncytial knots was a very common finding both in toxemia and in these obstetric disorders. However, there was a great difference between the two in that impairment of the vasculature was highly specific in the placentae in the case of toxemia. The most conspicuous histopathological change recognized in the placentae due to diabetes was villous edema, which would be due to the osmotic imbalance. However, it is so unusual to find cases complicated by severe diabetes that typical villous edema is rarely observed. The quantitative approaches in the field of histopathology may leave some problems in that the specimens taken from the organ could not always be representative of the whole organ. However, quantitative histometry based on the fairy standardized categories has been shown to offer more promising information on the relationship between the histopathological changes in the placentae and the obstetric disorders.