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Benign Tumors

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Pathology of the Human Placenta

Abstract

With rare exceptions, vascular tumors are the only benign tumors of the placenta. Tumors designated chorioangiomas, chorangiomas, fibroangiomyxomas, fibromas, and the many other names that have been applied are essentially similar, relatively common neoplasms of the placenta. Two large reviews have been published that bring together most of the literature. Fox (1967), who also reviewed the often confused nomenclature, indicated that Clarke described the first such tumor in 1798. Since then, the review by Siddall (1924) encompassed 130 cases, that by Marchetti (1939) comprised 209 cases, and Fox traced another 127 cases. Fox accounted for 344 published cases and gave incidence figures of 1 in 9,000 to 1 in 50,000. 1 When careful study of placentas is undertaken, the real prevalence may be as high as 1 in 100 pregnancies, according to some authors, although in my experience this number is excessive.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pathology and Reproductive Medicine, University of California, San Diego, USA

    Kurt Benirschke MD (Professor)

  2. University Medical Center, 92103-1990, San Diego, California, USA

    Kurt Benirschke MD (Professor)

  3. Institut für Anatomie der Medizinischen Fakultät, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische, Hochschule Aachen, 5100, Aachen, Germany

    Professor Dr. med. Peter Kaufmann

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  1. Kurt Benirschke MD
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  2. Professor Dr. med. Peter Kaufmann
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Benirschke, K., Kaufmann, P. (1990). Benign Tumors. In: Pathology of the Human Placenta. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4193-3_29

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4193-3_29

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-4195-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-4193-3

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