Umbilical Cord Length Index for Prediction of Cord Abnormalities Before Delivery

Umbilical Cord Length Index as a New Ultrasonographic Method for Prediction of Cord Abnormalities Before Delivery

The umbilical cord plays an essential role in intrauterine life. It is the pathway between mother, placenta and fetus during pregnancy and delivery. Complete cord occlusion often leads to fetal demise, while intermittent occlusion has been associated with intrauterine brain damage. Compression and vasospasm in utero are important factors in fetal distress. Nuchal Umbilical Cord can be diagnosed antepartum using ultrasound, but the complications are unpredictable and unpreventable

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Umbilical Cord Problem
• Intervention / Treatment: Diagnostic test: ultrasonography

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 300

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Egypt
  • Assiut, Egypt
    • Assiut Faculty of Medicine

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: Female

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients who are in labor will be followed up through regular fetal heart rate monitoring and clinically using partograph to monitor the progress of labor. Fetal heart rate changes and cases with abnormal progress of labor will be recorded. Mode of delivery either vaginal or cesarean will be noted. Those who are scheduled for elective CS will be evaluated during and after cesarean section.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Singleton pregnancy.
• Pregnant ≥ 37 weeks gestation.
• Women who will accept to participate in the study

Exclusion Criteria:

• Preterm deliveries.
• Amniotic fluid abnormalities (oligohydramnios, polyhydramnios).
• Intrauterine growth retardation
• Early membrane rupture
• Women need urgent cesarean section.
• Multifetal gestation.
• Placenta previa.
• Fetuses with major congenital anomalies.
• Women with chronic maternal illness as hypertension

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Intervention / Treatment

study group; All pregnant women who will attend the labor unit during the study period will be invited to participate in the study.

Diagnostic test: ultrasonography; Ultrasound evaluation will be done with transducer abdominal probe. The amount of amniotic fluid and umbilical cord sections will be determined by evaluating the images obtained from the sagittal plane in the ultrasound evaluations in the 4 abdominal quadrants. When the anatomical structure of the umbilical cord is considered, it is folded in amniotic fluid. The folds appear as umbilical cord rings, side-by-side at the sagittal sections. Scoring of "umbilical cord length index"; 1 point will be given for each quadrant where the umbilical cord was observed.; 0.5 point will be given for each umbilical cord ring in one quadrant. Every quadrant will be evaluated in this manner, and the total score will be calculated.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The sensitivity of "Umbilical cord length index" in diagnosis of long and short umbilical cords.	Ultrasonographic scoring of umbilical cord length	15 minutes

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Assiut University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 1, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 1, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): January 31, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 21, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 21, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): July 30, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 23, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 22, 2021
• Last Verified: April 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Congenital Abnormalities
• Other Study ID Numbers: UCLI

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No