[A study of the weight of the placenta in normal and pathological pregnancies (author's transl)].

The authors have studied 826 placentas in premature births, and in growth retardation and normal births. First of all they describe the technique which should be followed. They establish in this way a correlation between the weight of the placenta and the weight of the infant at birth on the one side and the gestational age on the other. On the other hand, they find that there is no correlation between the weight of the placenta and the mother's weight-gain in pregnancy when this is more than 12 kg. The weight of the placenta is shown to decrease after the 41st week of pregnancy and the placental index is at its highest at 38 weeks of pregnancy according to their study. They suggest that a curve of placental weight growth during pregnancy is useful in studying prematurity and growth retardation.