Restarting Blog

I just returned from the Dublin meeting, which was a continuation of the consensus meeting on placenta pathology that was started in Amsterdam. The book resulting from that conference is moving ahead. It was great seeing colleagues who were old friends as well as some new.

I attended the Diabetes in Pregnancy conference last October. This was the last one that my colleague from Cincinnati, Dr. Menachem Miodovnik, will coordinate, but the biannual meetings will continue. I have been grateful for his continued interest in and support of obstetrical pathology. The last entries in this blog were a review of some cases of stillborn infants from diabetic mothers that I did at the request of Menachem.

Last July I attended the Star Legacy meeting on Stillbirth in Minneapolis. This was an amazing meeting in which the presentations were preceded by a set of parents recalling the birth of their stillborn child. This organization brought together researchers in stillbirth. They were also promoting a program All of these meetings have inspired me to not retire completely but at least continue this blog, and perhaps become more involved in research at other institutions.

To start up the blog again, I will post a page that is a condensed version of an intended book on the pathology of fetal asphyxia. The start of the book in draft form includes many of the pages already posted. My search for a publisher proved futile, but one editor suggested that I try publishing a short version. I did, but failed to get that published as well. The summary does not fit a typical paper, but I think it is a useful introduction to the problem of fetal asphyxia. To prevent stillbirth and brain injury from intrapartum asphyxia we need to understand the anatomy that underlies the asphyxia. This knowledge will improve interpretation of abnormal fetal heart rate tracings, and ideally aid in the decision for emergency Cesarean section versus waiting, and may suggest novel strategies to prevent or remediate asphyxia.

The page is “Fetal Asphyxia: A Pathologist’s Perspective”

Note: I could not figure out how to get the images to go to the Figures page.