Perinatal loss can have a significant physical, psychological and emotional impact for parents. Understanding why this has happened can bring some comfort and aid the grieving process. Currently, the best way to obtain answers is through autopsy. Many studies have looked at the factors that encourage or prevent parents from consenting for their baby to have an autopsy. Amongst the main factors are feelings of protectiveness, worry about disfigurement or what will happen to their baby's organs, and religious concerns. Many of these studies have indicated that if non-invasive or minimally invasive tests were avilable as alternatives, the number of parents consenting would increase. 

Non-invasive and minimally invasive tests cover a range of techniques which can be used in diagnosis. Many of the tests that have been studied in this project are already used in hospital settings on living patients. Some have been recommended for use in post-mortem investigations but only in addition to traditional autopsy methods. We have included a range of imaging techniques, visual and verbal techniques, and laboratory tests. 

In order to get as much evidence as possible, we need to conduct a literature search. This search is designed to capture any piece of research that conducted one or more of the tests followed by a traditional autopsy and compared the results to see how well they matched. We will only be looking for pieces of research that have included infants, neonates, stillbirths or losses during pregnancy. This is because the anatomy of this age group is very different to older children and adults. 

Computational tools can look at a few key pieces of research and highlight important words or phrases that might help us to find more research. We are investigating 16 computational tools to see which ones really help us to enhance our search and get more evidence for the review. This work will support systematic reviewers to decide which tools are most beneficial for their own reviews.

This project is important for many reasons. First and foremost, we need to understand how well these tests perform in this situation so that we can see if it is suitable to offer them as alternatives to traditional autopsy. Giving parents well researched information when it comes to the post-mortem care of their baby is vital to help them navigate their options. Secondly, if these tests were offered, they may help to improve the number of parents consenting for their baby to have an autopsy. The results of the test can help scientists and medical professional to develop interventions that can prevent these kinds of losses in the future. There is currently a shortage of perinatal pathology specialists in the UK, increased consent would allow our health service to train more specialists. 

The methodology research conducted in this project also has an important role. Systematic review findings contribute widely to decision making in our health care system. The foundation of all systematic reviews is the search for evidence. If this is not conducted thoroughly then important pieces of evidence may be missed. We need to ensure reviewers are using the best methodologies to design their search so that as much evidence as possible is retrieved.