HISTOLOŠKI KORIOAMINIONITIS I RETINOPATIJA PREMATURITETA: POSTOJI LI UZROČNPOSLJEDIČNA POVEZANOST?

Every year more than 15 million babies are born preterm (born alive before 37 weeks of pregnancy are completed, according to WHO), and that number is rising. Complications from prematurity are the leading cause of death in children under the age of 5. One of the main risk factors of preterm birth is chorioamnionitis, acute inflammation of the membranes and chorion of the placenta. Chorioamnionitis can lead to development of maternal and fetal inflammatory response characterized by the release of cytokines and chemokines. That encourages prostaglandin release, ripening of the cervix, membrane injury and preterm birth. Preterm birth is major risk factor for development retinopathy of prematurity, retinal vascular disease, main cause of childhood blindness. We designed a prospective cohort study, that included born premature infants less than 32 weeks of gestation, during period between January 1999 and December 2008, whose placentas were regularly submitted for histopathological diagnosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate a causal relationship between histological chorioamnionitis and retinopathy of prematurity with the use a standard.