Genotyping of macerated stillborn fetuses.

It is generally impossible to collect blood or to culture tissue from a macerated stillborn fetus. Accurate genotyping of such a fetus may, however, be critical for the diagnosis of genetic diseases and appropriate genetic counseling. In the East Flanders Prospective Twin Study, placental tissue of twin and triplet sets, in some of which one or both members were stillborn and macerated, has been stored at -20 degrees C. Of all these fetuses, sex and zygosity could be determined accurately on the placental deoxyribonucleic acid. We tested the possibility of nongenetic changes in deoxyribonucleic acid that result from maceration or tissue degradation over time in storage on placental samples from monochorionic twins in which only one member was stillborn and macerated. The deoxyribonucleic acid variants in these monozygotic twins were identical whether or not either cotwin was macerated. Thus deoxyribonucleic acid variants can be determined accurately on the placental tissue of macerated fetuses, even after prolonged freezing.