CD15 immunostaining improves placental diagnosis of fetal hypoxia

Fetal hypoxic events with unclear predictive value are a common indication for placenta examination. We evaluated whether the use of CD15 immunostaining can improve the assessment of severity and duration of fetal hypoxia.We compared placentas (37-42 gestational weeks) from stillborns/newborns with birth asphyxia (BA) and non-hypoxic newborns. Placental findings were studied in following groups: (1) acute BA (n = 11) due to placental abruption, (2) non-acute BA (n = 121) due to non-acute conditions, (3) non-BA (n = 46) in pregnancies with preeclampsia and gestational diabetes, and (4) controls (n = 30).A high expression of CD15 in feto-placental resistance vessels (FRVs) was present in non-…