Activation of the complement system has recently been implicated in the mechanisms of fetal loss in the antiphospholipid syndrome. It is, however, possible that complement activation is also involved in other causes of fetal death in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. We therefore conducted a study to determine whether fetal death is associated with changes in the maternal plasma concentrations of complement split products or anaphylatoxins (C3a, C4a and C5a).
