Journal of Developmental Pathology

Review of Pathology of the Placenta CD-ROM by Stephen Romansky, M.D.

Placental Pathology comes to CD-ROM! Dr. Stephen Romansky has produced an overview of placental pathology on a CD based on over 20 years experience as a pediatric and perinatal pathologist. The result, by and large, is excellent. Dr. Romansky covers all aspects of placental evaluation in a well-organized, easy-to-follow fashion. His narration is succinct but appropriately informative.

As someone who is not a computer buff, I was impressed with the ease of installation of the CD on my Windows 95. It is also capable of playing on Windows 3.1 and MAC systems. The screen face is nicely formatted with viewer options for auto play as well as manual selection. Active arrows on several images enhance the illustrations. A bonus video at the end of the disc demonstrates "how to gross in a placenta." In addition to a well-organized table of contents, all images can be accessed via a comprehensive index.

The real treasure-trove in this CD is the collection of 405 gross and microscopic photographs. They are all of high quality and full color. These images can be downloaded to be used at clinical conferences or in lectures. One would be hard pressed to find a printed text with comparable photographs at so low a price!

There are no significant negatives to this production. One might disagree with Dr. Romansky's definition of the term "villitis of unknown etiology" or V.U.E. However, I view such terminology differences as a problem inherent in the discipline of placental pathology. While a list of selected references is included, it is rather brief (10 total) and one has to exit the main program and go to another file on the CD to get to it.

In summary, I highly recommend this CD for anyone interested in placental pathology. Certainly, no pathology residency program should be without it. It is particularly valuable as a board review tool and to general pathologists wishing to go beyond the "placenta with 3 vessel cord" diagnosis.

John J. Buchino, M.D.
Department of Pediatrics and Pathology
University of Louisville and Kosair Children's Hospital
Louisville, Kentucky

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Last Updated by John Sylora, M.D.: 5/20/09