Each Uterus Counts: A narrative review of health disparities in benign gynaecology and minimal access surgery.

Introduction: Health disparities exposed by the Covid-19 pandemic have prompted healthcare professionals to investigate disparities within their own specialty. Racial and ethnic disparities in obstetrics are well documented but inequities in gynaecology are less well known. Our aim is to review the literature on two commonly performed procedures, hysterectomy and myomectomy, and one condition, ectopic pregnancy, to evaluate the prevalence of racial, ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in benign gynaecology and minimal access surgery.

Quantitative assessment of placental morphology may identify specific causes of stillbirth.

Background: Stillbirth is frequently the result of pathological processes involving the placenta. Understanding the significance of specific lesions is hindered by qualitative subjective evaluation. We hypothesised that quantitative assessment of placental morphology would identify alterations between different causes of stillbirth and that placental phenotype would be independent of post-mortem effects and differ between live births and stillbirths with the same condition.

Systematic review of placental pathology reported in association with stillbirth.

Introduction: Histopathological examination of the placenta is recommended to determine the cause of stillbirth. Although some reports find causal or contributory placental abnormalities in up to 60% of stillbirths, the significance of such findings in this clinical setting remains uncertain. A systematic review was conducted to i) investigate the likelihood of diagnosing a cause of stillbirth from placental examination and ii) to identify the specific causes of death that can be diagnosed from placental pathology.

Duration and method of tissue storage alters placental morphology - implications for clinical and research practice.

We assessed whether placental morphology is affected by placental storage before fixation. Fresh tissue from uncomplicated pregnancies (n = 10) was fixed immediately and further samples were stored dry, in PBS or culture medium for 24, 48 or 72 h at 4 °C. Placental morphology quantified using image analysis software found no difference in syncytial nuclear aggregates, cytokeratin 7, CD45 or Ki67 immunostaining irrespective of duration or mode of storage.