Multicentre Study of Placental Phenotype in Stillbirth
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A Multicentre Study to Investigate the Structure and Morphology of Placentas in Different Causes of Stillbirth.
IRAS ID
241986
Contact name
Alexander Heazell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Can studying the morphology and characteristics of the placenta help us to understand the mechanisms of stillbirth cases from 3 hospitals in the UK?
The frequency of stillbirth in the UK has not significantly decreased for two decades, affecting 1 in 240 births. Up to 30% of stillbirths are attributed to placental dysfunction. Previously a single centre study in our lab in Manchester undertook a quantitative assessment of the characteristics in placenta tissue from differing causes of stillbirth. It was found that the profiles of characteristics were significantly different or showed trend differences between livebirth and the different causes of stillbirth.
The prospective study aims to strengthen these data with a multicentre study. Tissue samples from the placentas of women who had uncomplicated livebirths and women who had stillbirths will be gathered from hospital tissue banks in Manchester, Sheffield and Birmingham. The tissue banks have previously collected the tissue from people who agreed for their tissue to be used for research. The morphology and cell characteristics of the tissue will be investigated. Using tissue from 3 different hospitals means that we can be more certain that any patterns in the data are widespread and not just found in one hospital.
We will also use a new method of assessing placental transcription of mRNA in different causes of stillbirth. This will be undertaken on samples from Manchester.
If the quantitative assessments of placental characteristics prove valuable, they could be adopted as part of the standard post-mortem procedure in stillbirth. This would not only provide valuable information about the causes of stillbirth but also allow clinicians to explain to parents why the stillbirth had occurred.
The research will be funded by a charitable donation to the University of Manchester by Grace Jorgensen and Walter Gattridge, and by Tommy’s Charity.REC name
London - Queen Square Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/PR/0313
Date of REC Opinion
20 Aug 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion