Umbilical cord entanglement and intrapartum complications

The purpose was to evaluate the outcomes of pregnancies complicated by umbilical cord entanglement. Pregnant women referred to Niknafs maternity hospital of Kerman with singleton, vertex and term pregnancies were selected for the study. Pregnancies with no umbilical cord entanglement served as comparison group. A comparison of the frequencies between the two groups was performed by c2 testing and a comparison of means by student t-test. Of the 478 deliveries, the frequency of umbilical cord entanglement was 40.2%, frequency of nuchal cord entanglement was 34.3% and around limbs or trunk was 5%. The frequency of two or more cord entanglements was 6.49%. Pregnancies with umbilical cord entanglement were more likely to exhibit an abnormal fetal heart rate pattern (P<0.001). The inflicted infants were also more likely to have low 1- and 5-minute Apgar scores < 7 (P<0.05) and to have mecunium (P<0.05). The mean of umbilical cord entanglements among infants with mecunium was more than that of the infants without mecunium (P<0.05). Umbilical cord entanglement was associated with a greater risk of mecunium, abnormal fetal heart pattern during labor, low 1- and 5-minute Apgar sores < 7 and adverse fetal outcomes. It is possible to detect this problem with Doppler ultrasonography during prenatal scan.