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Presence of Nucleated Red Blood Cells

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Pathology of the Placenta

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Abstract

Nucleated red blood cells (nRBCs) originate in blood islands of the yolk sac at 16–20 days of gestation. Within the extraembryonic (placental) compartment, nRBCs begin to populate villous capillaries of the developing embryo at ∼6 weeks postconception and remain prevalent until the end of the first trimester. Thereafter, their presence decreases so that at term, under normal circumstances of delivery, nRBCs are inapparent upon cursory examination in the placental fetal vasculature. Readily identifiable nRBCs are present on placental examination at term in a number of clinical circumstances and in conjunction with a variety of placental processes. Highlights are considered below.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sheffield Children’s Hospital, Sheffield, UK

    Marta C. Cohen

  2. University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Marta C. Cohen

  3. Division of Anatomic Pathology, Department of Pathology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Theonia K. Boyd

  4. Division of Women’s and Perinatal Pathology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Theonia K. Boyd

  5. Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Theonia K. Boyd

Authors
  1. Marta C. Cohen
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  2. Theonia K. Boyd
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Correspondence to Marta C. Cohen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomical Pathology, Women’s and Children’s Hospital, North Adelaide, SA, Australia

    T. Yee Khong

  2. Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, National Maternity Hospital, Dublin, Ireland

    Eoghan E. Mooney

  3. Department of Pathology, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Peter G. J. Nikkels

  4. Department of Pathology, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA

    Terry K. Morgan

  5. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Sanne J. Gordijn

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Cohen, M.C., Boyd, T.K. (2019). Presence of Nucleated Red Blood Cells. In: Khong, T., Mooney, E., Nikkels, P., Morgan, T., Gordijn, S. (eds) Pathology of the Placenta. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97214-5_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97214-5_26

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-97213-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-97214-5

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