Anyone had a placenta sent to pathology?

[Pinkstuffs]

I had DS earlier this year, was packing away some things today and noticed on our discharge notes that my placenta was sent to pathology.

What would this be for? He was very small (2nd centile). Am I likely to hear any results back from it or would it just be for the hospital internal research purposes?

Mine was sent off as it had started to break down at 31 weeks when my youngest was born very premature. At the debrief I was told nothing more significant about it though. My meeting was with the obs and gynae consultant.

2nd centile is small so they will
Want to check the placenta was functioning properly. I would contact them and ask for results. If you want to have another baby one day they will offer you more scans and possibly aspirin. To prevent things such as growth restriction.

I used to dissect placentas - yours will probably have been send due to your baby being so small. They’ll be looking for any abnormalities, but in restricted growth cases I’d be specifically looking for lesions that basically affect the blood supply that the fetus would have gotten. It helps to determine whether the small baby is due to placental issues or other (ie genetic etc) reasons, which can be helpful in the future.
I can’t answer whether you’ll hear back or not though I’m afraid - it’s your specimen though, so you should be able to get some kind of report if you request it. It might take some time. (Caveat: it’s a good few years since I last did this, plus different hospitals may have different procedures).

Yes, mine was sent earlier this year. It took about 6 weeks to get the results

DS was born in April so I’m not expecting to randomly hear back! I wondered if I could request a report or if there was an issue if it would be something that came up in a next pregnancy.

I had no idea this was a thing, but it obviously makes sense. My DD was also 2nd centile. She's a toddler now and I never heard anything. I wonder if there's anything on my notes?!

April! There should be a report somewhere, your GP may be able to access it or refer you. You could also request a copy of your medical/maternity records which should contain the report (although there might be a fee for this)

Yes, you could either go through your GP, also PALs email with a question why you haven't had your results - probably really easily solved. although if you want more detail your maternity unit will probably also have some kind of debrief service or request for a follow up appointment. It is quite important to know of your placenta was working especially if you do planning more children.

Thanks all I only asked as I didn’t even know it had been sent, I just saw it on my notes yesterday and wondered if it was commonplace or if I was likely to hear anything back.

Mine was, it popped out smelling 'offensive' (DD was 12 days overdue) and was sent off to test for infection. It tested positive for groups G and B strep and we had to have all kinds of monitoring for 6 months.

My daughter was iugr so my placenta was sent off for testing but I never received the results. I didn't have any more children so I followed up once and then left it. I had a newborn to deal with.