Anatomo-clinical conference. Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital. Case No 2--1997. Recurrent febrile pancytopenia

Modern ultrasonic diagnostic instruments with high resolution and color Doppler sonography allow the obstetrician to describe pathological findings very precisely and at an early stage of pregnancy. The use of high-resolution ultrasound makes it possible to detect heart malformations already between the 8th and 10th week of gestation. This development has essentially changed the clinical requirements on fetal autopsy which in its traditional way no longer meets the increased demands. Unless the pathologists faces this challenge the importance of fetal autopsy will diminish. Modern image databases and communication techniques allow the pathologist to have direct access to text and images of pre-findings by other clinics. Great importance, however, must be attached to the interdisciplinary cooperation with obstetricians and geneticists. We report on routine fetal autopsy by using an interdisciplinary database an the Charité.