Five-vessel umbilical cord and fetal outcome: an obstetric overview

Abstract

Purpose

The birth of a child with an increased number of blood vessels in the umbilical cord (UC) is a rare event and has been previously reported to be associated with a higher incidence of congenital anomalies.

Methods

A case of a healthy female infant with an intra-uterine growth restriction (IUGR), born from a bicornuate uterus at 37 weeks of gestation and weighing 2500 g with a diagnosis of five-vessel UC made post-natally, on gross examination of the UC and confirmed by histopathological examination is documented. In particular, sections from the UC showed four umbilical arteries (UA) and one umbilical vein (UV). A review of literature was performed.

Result

The physical examination of the baby after birth was normal. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case to document the association of five-vessel UC with IUGR and the Mullerian anomaly of bicornuate uterus.

Conclusion

The detection of supernumerary blood vessels in the UC mandates comprehensive workup for associated congenital anomalies but this case suggests that such finding might not always serve as an ominous sign for an adverse perinatal outcome.

Keywords:

• Obstetric
• placenta
• cord
• umbilical cord
• five vessels

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards

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“This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.”