Comparative Outcomes Related to Delivery-room Cord Milking In Low-resourced Kountries (CORDMILK)

A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial of Umbilical Cord Milking Versus Early Cord Clamping on Short and Long-term Outcomes in Neonates Who Are Non-Vigorous at Birth

The investigators will conduct a study on non-vigorous infants at birth to determine if umbilical cord milking (UCM) results in lower rate of moderate to severe hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) or death than early clamping and for infants who are non-vigorous at birth and need immediate resuscitation.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy; Birth Asphyxia
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Umbilical cord milking

Detailed Description

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is a brain injury caused by inadequate blood flow and oxygen delivery to the neonatal brain. Almost all infants with severe HIE and 30-50% infants with moderate HIE either die or develop significant developmental delay, cerebral palsy or other disabilities.The incidence of HIE is 1-3 per 1,000 term births in developed countries and 15-20 times higher in developing countries (Worldwide, 0.5 to 1 million infants develop HIE each year). Therapeutic hypothermia is the only proven therapy for infants with HIE. Even after receiving therapeutic hypothermia, one-half of all infants with moderate and severe HIE die or develop neurological and functional impairment. Therapeutic hypothermia is not widely available and ineffective in developing nations.There is an urgent need for a new therapy for neonates with HIE, which can complement hypothermia and be readily available in developing nations. Stem cell transplantation is a potential therapy for infants with HIE. Umbilical cord blood is a rich source of stem cells. Umbilical cord milking (UCM) may have similar effect as autologous umbilical cord blood cell transplantation.

Preliminary evidence suggests a placental transfusion in term infants may be a neuroprotective mechanism that can also facilitate cardiovascular transition for neonates depressed at birth and result in decreased mortality and improved neurodevelopmental outcomes. Infants with HIE, due to varied complications during the birth process, have poor perfusion due to fetal blood volume loss to the placenta. However, the most common method of providing placental blood, delayed cord clamping (DCC) cannot be performed since infants with HIE are non-vigorous and providers often need to perform resuscitation immediately after birth. The World Health Organization and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) also does not recommended DCC in neonates who are non-vigorous (limp, pale, and not breathing) at birth and require immediate resuscitation. Umbilical cord milking (UCM) or gently squeezing cord blood toward the baby, is an alternative to DCC, which can achieve significant placental transfusion without delaying resuscitation. Further, UCM can be completed as quickly as immediate cord clamping (ICC) and UCM requires minimal training and no additional staff.

The investigators hypothesized that UCM will reduce the number of infants developing moderate to severe HIE or death in neonates who are non-vigorous at birth compared to early cord clamping (ECC). This will be a cluster crossover randomized controlled trial. Each hospital will be randomly assigned to use either ECC or UCM for any infant who is non-vigorous at birth and needing resuscitation over a period of 6 months. Then the site will change to the other method for an additional 6 months.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 3442
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• India
  • Karnataka
    • Belagavi, Karnataka, India, 590010
      • KLE Academy of Higher Education and Research (Deemed-to-be-University) Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College
  • MS
    • Chandrapur, MS, India, 442401
      • Government Medical College
    • Nagpur, MS, India, 440002
      • Daga Memorial Woman and Children Hospital
    • Nagpur, MS, India, 440009
      • Government Medical College and Hospital
    • Nagpur, MS, India, 441108
      • All India Institute of Medical Science
    • Wardha, MS, India, 442102
      • Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences/ Kasturba Hospital
  • Maharashtra
    • Nagpur, Maharashtra, India, 440018
      • Indira Gandhi Government Medical College & Hospital
    • Pune, Maharashtra, India, 411018
      • Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation's Post-Graduate Institute, Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital
  • Rajasthan
    • Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, 302004
      • Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Medical College

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 8 months to 9 months (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Non-vigorous neonates born between 35-42 weeks

Exclusion Criteria:

• Congenital malformation of CNS.
• Chromosomal abnormalities.
• Major congenital malformations.
• Abruption/cutting through the placenta at delivery.
• Umbilical cord knots or inadequate cord length.
• Mono-chorionic twins or twins with no information on amnion/chorion.
• Multiple gestation >2 .

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Umbilical Cord Milking; The delivering practitioner will place the newborn below the level of the incision (at the edge of the table) at C/S and a second team member will milk the cord four times. For vaginal delivery, the delivering obstetrician, midwife or perinatal provider will hold the infant against their body or place the infant on the mother's abdomen and the cord will be milked either four times by the obstetrical provider or by a second team member. For the cord milking procedure, the obstetrical provider will milk 20-30 centimeters length of the umbilical cord over two seconds, repeating three additional times as described previously. This time is not significantly different from the time for ECC.	Other: Umbilical cord milking; At delivery, the umbilical cord is grasped, and blood is pushed toward the infant 4 times before the cord is clamped. This procedure infuses a placental transfusion of blood into the infant and can be done in 1--15 seconds.
No Intervention: Early Cord Clamping; Umbilical cord will be clamped immediately after birth (within 60 seconds)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Moderate to severe HIE or death	Number of infants with moderate to severe HIE or death	From date of birth until the date of discharge from the hospital or date of death from any cause, whichever come first, asessed up to 10 weeks.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
MRI of the brain	Number of infants with moderate to severe HIE who have abnormal brain MRI	4 days to 2 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Nemours Children's Clinic
• Collaborators: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD); Thomas Jefferson University; St. Louis University; Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College; Sharp HealthCare; Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research; University of San Diego; Daga Memorial Maternity and Children's Hospital, Nagpur, India; Mahatma Gandhi Institue of Medical Sciences, Wardha, India; Karnataka Institue of Medical Sciences, Hubbali, India; Indira Gandhi Government Medical College & Hospital, Nagpur, India; Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation's Post-Graduate Institute, Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital, Pune, India; Government Medical College, Nagpur; All India Institute of Medical Sciences
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Anup Katheria, MD, Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns; Principal Investigator: Zubair H Aghai, MD, Nemours Children's Clinic; Principal Investigator: Sangappa Dhaded, MD, KLE Academy of Higher Education and Research

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Yogeshkumar S, Vernekar SS, Dhaded SM, Talekar K, Leiby BE, Hartman R, Vaucher Y, Chouthai N, Girish M, Jain M, Jain S, Parvekar S, Jain V, Patankar A, Suryawanshi M, Tiwari M, Waikar M, Nashine N, Ambike D, Asalkar M, Kulkarni R, Haribhaktha S, Narkhede H, Chaudhari S, Kamble M, Shrirame D, Falke B, Mehta S, Verma A, Gothwal S, Goudar SS, Derman R, Katheria A, Aghai ZH. CORDMILK: Umbilical Cord Milking versus Early Cord Clamping on short-and long-term outcomes in neonates who are non-vigorous at birth-study protocol of a multi-center, cluster-randomized, crossover-controlled trial. Trials. 2025 Nov 17;26(1):509. doi: 10.1186/s13063-025-09197-8.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 17, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 1, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 28, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 30, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 2, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): September 5, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 13, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 11, 2026
• Last Verified: September 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Placental transfusion
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Cerebrovascular Disorders; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Vascular Diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases; Infant, Newborn, Diseases; Brain Ischemia; Hematologic Diseases; Signs and Symptoms, Respiratory; Anemia; Hypoxia, Brain; Hypoxia; Anemia, Neonatal; Congenital, Hereditary, and Neonatal Diseases and Abnormalities; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Signs and Symptoms; Hemic and Lymphatic Diseases; Hypoxia-Ischemia, Brain; Asphyxia Neonatorum; Fetofetal Transfusion; Surgical Procedures, Operative; Delivery, Obstetric; Obstetric Surgical Procedures; Umbilical Cord Clamping
• Other Study ID Numbers: CORDMILK; R01HD102967 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

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