This is the most comprehensive review of fetal injury by amnion-derived bands and constrictions. It is magnificently executed as a review of some 400 cases and as an exposition of the author's long interest in this subject. His 14 cases are presented in great detail and accompanied by superior photographs.
Torpin's unique method of examining freshly delivered placentas under water, with reconstruction of the fetal sac and position of the placenta in utero, has allowed him more insight into the subject than available to any investigator before. This technique, but primarily his keen interest, has led him to discover many instances of abortions and deliveries in which abnormalities of the amnion can safely be held responsible for fetal death, amputations, and a variety of malformations whose etiology would otherwise be impossible to reconstruct. Amnion rupture, with an intact chorionic sac, probably occurs more often than hitherto assumed. Its pathogenesis is