On fatty degeneration of the placenta : and the influence of this disease in producing abortion, death of the fœtus, hæmorrhage, and premature labour / by Robert Barnes.

  • Barnes, Robert, 1817-1907.
Date:
[1851]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On fatty degeneration of the placenta : and the influence of this disease in producing abortion, death of the fœtus, hæmorrhage, and premature labour / by Robert Barnes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Appearance of the Placenta.—Nearly one-half of the •uterine surface was thickly studded with fatty masses, varying in size from that of a pea to that of a walnut. Adipose matter appeared to be aggregated into firm defined masses, isolated from the surrounding placental tissue. No large umbilical vessels could be traced in their substance. In this respect they differed from the tumours in the first placenta : possibly the vessels had been obliterated or replaced by cellular tissue, in consequence of pressure and cessation of function. The minute structure of the masses in this case differed, however, in no particular from that of the first: like them, they were composed of umbilical capillaries and villi, with the investing chorion in various stages of fatty deposition and degeneration. In the grosser physical cha¬ racters also, the masses found in both placentas entirely corresponded. In this case, as in the former, the masses were chiefly seen on the maternal surface of the placenta, the larger ones penetrating more or less deeply into its substance ; some even occupying its entire thickness. There were only two or three small spots in which it could be perceived that fatty masses were being developed on the foetal surface. The masses were of solid consistence, and appeared as hard bodies imbedded in the softer spongy structure of the healthy placenta. This second case confirmed me in my opinion as to the importance of this alteration in the structure of the placenta. It showed that not only haemorrhage might be occasioned by it, and hence premature labour; but also that premature labour might be excited in consequence of the death of the foetus, which had, in all probability', been brought about by the necessarily imperfect performance of the functions of the placenta. I forwarded portions of this placenta also to Dr. Hassall, and procured from time to time healthy recent placentas, that we might be enabled to compare the healthy and diseased structures. While waiting for the drawings of the intimate structure of these fatty placentas, which Dr. Hassall had undertaken