Maternal and Fetal Outcome of Pregnancies with Umbilical Cord Problems

Objective:To seek relationship between cord problems (like long cords, short cords, nuchal cord and cord knots) and its effects on fetus as well as mode of delivery. Study Design: Descriptive (case series) Place and Duration of Study: Obs/Gynae wards Railway hospital, Rawalpindi from September 2006 to August 2007. Materials and Methods: It was a descriptive case series study. Hundred patients with umbilical cord problems, detected at delivery were included.Effects of these cord problems on mode of delivery and fetal outcome were observed. Results: Twenty two percent patients had long cord, 14% had short cords.41% had single nuchal cord, 22% had double loop of cord around the neck, and 4% patients had triple loops of Nuchal cord. It was observed that 4% patients were having true kanots in umbilical cord and and only 26% patients had false knots in umbilical cord. In the patients with cord problems, rate of SVD was more than 70% and LSCS < 20%. These problems did not show significant effects on birth weight and Apgar scores when present alone.But multiple cord problems in a single pregnancy were associated with fetal complications. Conclusion: Long and short umbilical cords, umbilical cord knots and Nuchal cords had no significant effects on mode of delivery and Apgar score in 5 minutes. But multiple umbilical cord problems in same case may pose problems to the fetus and early diagnosis can prevent fetal harm.