Findings of Macroscopic and Microscopic Examination of Infants in Live or Stillbirth

Abstract

Objective: To ascertain whether lung examination could provide sufficient pathological insight to distinguish between stillbirth and live birth in infants.

Study Design: A comparative observational study

Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad and department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, LUMHS, from January 2023 to June 2024.

Methods: All cases were included from the hospital's maternity and pathology departments. During the autopsy, the lungs were examined for external features such as color, consistency, and presence of any anomalies. The lungs were weighed and measured. Each lung was then sectioned, and the internal structure was evaluated for any macroscopic lesions or abnormalities.

Results: There were 34.5% cases’ lungs had filled by thoracic cavity, 33.8% cases had filled by thoracic partial cavity, 16.2% had without thoracic cavity, whereas 15.5% cases had no information about macroscopically appearance of lungs in the thoracic cavity. Histological results were uniform in 47.9% cases, semi-collapsed in 44.4% cases and collapsed in 7.7% cases.

Conclusion: Histologically, the manner of death could not be determined alone. Thus, careful macroscopic and microscopic lung assessments, along with case history and medical record reviews, are advised. Multiple findings were considered to determine stillbirth or live birth.