Amniotic rupture, extra-amniotic pregnancy, and vernix granulomata.

is report describes two cases of amniotic rupture with delivery of live-born infants; one at 31 weeks and the other at term. The size of these amniotic sacs was apparently inadequate to contain the fetus, and extra-amniotic pregnancy was considered to have occurred. The ruptured and separated amniotic sacs were larger than previously reported examples and resembled those of delivery artifact. However, both placentas contained vernix granulomata in the separated amniotic mesenchyme and in the denuded mesenchyme of the chorionic plates, confirming the diagnosis of antepartum amniotic rupture. These observations add significant diagnostic criteria for identifying this entity in the absence of the hitherto commonly associated fetal amniotic band syndrome. Regardless of presence or absence of amniotic band syndrome, this entity is a sporadic condition, and recurrence is extremely rare in subsequent pregnancies.