Prenatal Echo-Sonographic Parameters in Fetuses Wrapped with the Umbilical Cord in the Third Trimester of Pregnancy

Abstract

This study constitutes a description of prenatal echo-sonographic parameters in fetuses wrapped with the umbilical cord in the third trimester of pregnancy and demonstrates the practical importance of the umbilical cord collision. Echocardiographic examinations were performed within 6 months, and a group of patients in the third trimester with a mean age of 28.1 ± 0.79 weeks of gestation (p = 0.075) was distinguished. The group included 46 fetuses from single pregnancies with the umbilical cord around the fetal neck and 70 fetuses without the umbilical cord around the fetal neck. The course of the umbilical cord coiling around the fetal neck was recorded by color Doppler. We also conducted a follow-up with the newborns. In the study group, there was an elevated peak systolic velocity of the umbilical artery (UMB PSV) at a level of 44.17 cm/s vs. 38.90 cm/s in the control group (p = 0.004), and caesarean sections were significantly more frequent (54.5% vs. 31.4%). The persistence of the nuchal cord during delivery was observed in 37% of newborns in the study group, while the occurrence of umbilical wrapping during delivery was found in 18.6% of newborns in the control group (p = 0.027). In the studied cases, caesarean sections were 2.62 times more frequent (OR = 2.62), whereas nuchal cords during delivery were 2.57 times more often observed (OR = 2.57). Fetal umbilical cord wrapping in the third trimester of pregnancy does not have a significant hemodynamic impact; however, the UMB PSV might be slightly elevated in this group, and the frequency of umbilical cord collision during delivery and the need to perform a caesarean section at term seem to be more common.