Is There a Correlation Between Histology and Karyotype in Early Spontaneous Abortion?

The value of histologic evaluation of placental tissue in spontaneous abortions remains undefined. We analyzed 90 placentas from early spontaneous abortions to ascertain if morphologic features were predictive of karyotype. Normal karyotypes were observed in 40 cases, and abnormal karyotypes were found in 50. There were 25 trisomies, 6 triploidies, 2 tetraploidies, one 45, × 0, and 16 other abnormalities, such as mosaic and chimera. All 6 triploid placentas were partial moles. The pres ence of intravillous cistern formation and focal trophoblastic hyperplasia was seen more frequently in cases with abnormal karyotypes. The triploid cases, however, contributed the majority of cases with these villous changes. Hydropic abortion was observed approximately equally in both chromosomally normal and abnormal cases, and its incidence was high in cases of trisomy 16 and tetraploid placenta. Mild edema and regressive changes, such as stromal fibrosis, hypovascular stroma, and attenuated trophoblastic layers, were often found and none showed any specific chromosomal abnormalities. These results indicate that histology can provide only a suggestion as to the likelihood of triploidy and that histologic examination of spontaneous abortions is not useful as a method for predicting chromosomal abnor mality. Int J Surg Pathol 2(4):295-300, 1995