Are Short Umbilical Cords Seen in Pathology Really Short?

Abstract

Purpose: Short umbilical cords are associated with adverse perinatal outcomes. Clinicians may rely on measurements made by pathologists, which do not include portions of the cord remaining n the child or sent for blood gasses.

Methods: This was a retrospective chart review of term placentas. Sequential cases from January through August 2017 were reviewed from the Pathology archive.

Results: 198 placentas were recorded as either third trimester of mature, of which 146 were 37 or greater weeks of gestation. Of these 146, 142 had cords measuring less than 35 cm, the definition of short. Mean cord length was 19.6 cm. Of the 146 placentas, 50(34%) had had blood gases submitted.

Conclusions: 34% of short cords by Pathology measurement had had blood gases sent. The fact that 142 out of 146 sequential placentas were recorded as “short” suggests an additional unmeasured loss of length due to cord attached to the infant. Pathology laboratory measurements should not be interpreted as truly short without clinical correlation.

Keywords:

• Placenta
• umbilical cord
• perinatal

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.

Informed consent

This was a retrospective record review, and obtaining of consent was waived by our Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was departmentally funded.

Notes on contributors

Adanna Ukazu

Adanna Ukazu Protocol/project development, Data collection or management, Data analysis, Manuscript writing/editing.

Sitara Ravikumar

Sitara Ravikumar Data collection or management, Data analysis, Manuscript writing/editing.

Natalie Roche

Debra S Heller Protocol/project development, Data collection or management, Data analysis, Manuscript writing/editing, Compliance with Ethical Standards.

Debra S. Heller

Natalie Roche Manuscript writing/editing, supervision, Compliance with Ethical Standards.