The relationship between some disorders of the umbilical cord and intrauterine growth retardation.

Some disorders of the umbilical cord--Single umbilical artery, oedema of the cord, battledore insertion and velamentous insertion--have been examined in a prospectively randomized material. The material consists of 447 placentae from liveborn, singleton infants, where 287 were from exemplary pregnancies, and 160 from births with a gestational age of less than 266 days and/or a birth weight of less than 2750 g. The placentae were examined macroscopically and microscopically, and the total amount of protein, RNA, and DNA were determined in a randomized sample. Single umbilical artery was found to coincide with circumvallate placenta, suggesting a common fault in the placentation. Oedema of the umbilical cord was found to have no significance for the infant, but their placentae were significantly heavier, without signs of generalized oedema. The birth weight and placental weight were slightly and equally reduced in battledore insertion of the cord. The RNA/DNA ratio was increased, indicating tissue stress. This anomaly contrasted to the placentae, in which the cords were inserted velamentously. These had significantly reduced birth weights, and the weights of the placentae were slightly reduced. The incidences of complications during labour and congenital anomalies were increased.