Structural and functional particularities of the umbilical cord in perinatal outcomes

Abstract

Introduction. Umbilical cord (UC) has individual structural and functional particularities, which can influence the fetal condition. Purpose. To study the structural and functional particularities of the UC and to assess its role in perinatal outcomes. Material and methods. A prospective cohort study of 190 patients were has been conducted. The patients were divided in group L1 with UC pathology and L0 without diseases. Clinical and paraclinical examinations were performed and a morphological UC exam was done. The data was statistically processed (SPSS 23 and SAS 9.4 programs); the statistical significance was 0.05. Results. The age of the patients in the control group L0 was between 19-37 years old with the average of 27.86±4.36 and in group L1 – between 19-40 years old with an average of 29.09±4.84 (fig. 2). No demographic differences were detected between both groups. Different structural and functional UC anomalies were found to be significantly associated with maternal outcomes: such us woman’s obstetrical history, somatic diseases, TORCH-infection and perinatal outcomes (p <0.05). The UC pathology were associated with intrauterine growth restriction (p<0.0001), fetal distress and hypoxia, which required the neonatal intensive care (p<0.0001). Histological examination revealed structural abnormalities of the amnio-chorionic plate and cell-matrix of the Wharton’s jelly (p<0.05). Conclusions. The study confirmed the correlation between UC structural and functional particularities and a high risk of perinatal outcomes.