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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Journal of Fetal Medicine 2015; 02(03): 143-149
DOI: 10.1007/s40556-015-0055-x
Review Article

A Pathologist’s Approach to Nonimmune Hydrops

W. Tony Parks
1   Departments of Pathology and Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
2   Department of Pathology, Magee-Women’s Hospital, 300 Halket Street, 15213, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
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Abstract

Fetal hydrops is an uncommon, but frequently-lethal, complication of pregnancy. Hydrops can result from any of diverse etiologies, although it has classically been divided into immune and nonimmune hydrops. While the etiology for many cases can be determined prenatally, pathologists are nearly always called on to identify the underlying cause for those cases that remain unexplained at the time of delivery or termination. This brief review will be confined to nonimmune hydrops, and the discussion will particularly focus on the role of the pathologist in evaluating this condition.

Keywords

Nonimmune - Hydrops - Autopsy - Genetic testing - Chromosomal microarray - Lysosomal storage disorder - Anemia - Cardiac anomaly - Fetomaternal hemorrhage - Parvovirus B19


Publication History

Received: 24 June 2015

Accepted: 24 September 2015

Article published online:
08 May 2023

© 2015. Society of Fetal Medicine. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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