title: Premature rupture of the amniotic membranes diagnosed by placental bed biopsy.
abstract: Biopsies of the maternal placental bed are usually made to investigate abnormalities of the uteroplacental vasculature. A placental bed biopsy was taken from a 36-year-old, gravida 4, para 3 woman. She had delivered normally at 39 weeks of gestation, following spontaneous labor, without clinical signs of premature rupture of the membrane. She was discharged without complications of the delivery. The placental bed biopsy showed histologic signs of amniotic rupture. There were desquamated stratified squamous epithelial cells in edema fluid between muscle fibers, surrounded by intense neutrophilic inflammation. Uterine venules contained fibrin clots with squamous epithelial cells. Some veins had plugs of detached, coiled, and occlusive amniotic thrombi. To our knowledge, histologic evidence of amniotic membrane rupture and amniotic fluid thrombosis with local embolization has not been previously reported in a biopsy of the placental bed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City 84112, USA.
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Craven
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ward
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000653:Amniotic Fluid / Q000166:cytology*; D001706:Biopsy; D004617:Embolism / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005322:Premature Rupture of Fetal Membranes / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D010920:Placenta / Q000473:pathology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D013927:Thrombosis