CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 72Pregnancy and preeclampsia studiesMaternal and Perinatal Health InterventionsMaternal and fetal healthcare

Cord coiling, umbilical cord insertion and placental shape in an unselected cohort delivering at term: Relationship with common obstetric outcomes

Pathak, S., Hook, E., Hackett, G., Murdoch, E., Sebire, N.J., Jessop, F., Lees, C.·2010·Placenta
DOI 10.1016/j.placenta.2010.08.004
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Background The position of the placental cord insertion, its shape and cord coiling are thought to be associated with perinatal outcome. This study derives indices describing the relationship of cord insertion to the placental centre, the shape of the placenta and cord coiling in placentas from unselected term pregnancies. Further, we investigate these indices in pregnancies affected by pre-eclampsia (PET), pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH), gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and delivery of a small for gestational age (SGA) baby.Design/methodology Eight hundred and sixty one unselected women with singleton pregnancy delivering at 37-42 weeks were prospectively recruited to this study. Placental axes and their relationship with the cord insertion were measured using digital photography and proprietary software. From these, the cord centrality (distance of umbilical cord insertion from the centre) and placental eccentricity (deviation of the placental shape from circular) were derived. The cord coiling index (number of coils in the cord divided by the length of cord in cm) was also calculated from manual measurements.Results The mean value of cord centrality index was 0.36 (SD = 0.21) and of placental eccentricity 0.49 (SD = 0.17). Left direction of umbilical cord coiling was more common than right (79% vs 16.4%) The mean cord coiling index was 0.20 (SD = 0.09) coils/cm. The indices were constant between 37 and 42 weeks and were no different in the non-affected population compared to women with pre-eclampsia (n = 17), PIH, (n = 27), GDM (n = 38) or delivery of an SGA baby (n = 54).Conclusion The cord centrality index that we derive suggests that the cord insertion is most commonly 'off centre', and eccentricity index that the placental shape is elliptical. Therefore, contrary to widely held belief, the cord does not normally insert centrally nor is the placenta normally round in shape. There is a preponderance of left sided coiling. There was no difference for any of the indices between the non-affected pregnancies and pregnancies affected by pre-eclampsia, PIH, GDM and SGA.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.placenta.2010.08.004

Cites

31 of 31 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The human placenta is generally described as discoid, but in large populations it has often been found on average to be slightly elliptical.

    “The human placenta is generally described as discoid, but in large populations it has often been found on average to be slightly elliptical (435).”

    From Placental Origins of Chronic Disease (2016) · cites this paper as [435]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Pathak, S., Hook, E., Hackett, G., Murdoch, E., Sebire, N. J., Jessop, F., & Lees, C.
Affiliations
  • Rosie Hospital (GB)
  • Addenbrooke's Hospital (GB)
  • Great Ormond Street Hospital (GB)
Corresponding author
Lees, C.
ORCID
Venue
Placenta
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2010-11
Volume
31
Issue
11
Pages
963-968
ISSN
0143-4004 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.placenta.2010.08.004
OpenAlex
W2144225673
Cited by
72
References
30
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 4
FWCI
5.67
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
Locations
  • Placenta (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Pregnancy and preeclampsia studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Maternal and Perinatal Health Interventions
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Maternal and fetal healthcare
Keywords
umbilical cord insertion, placental shape, preeclampsia, gestational hypertension, gestational diabetes mellitus, small for gestational age, term singleton pregnancy, perinatal outcomes
MeSH terms
Adult, Algorithms, Chorion, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Infant, Newborn, Infant, Small for Gestational Age, Organ Size, Photography, Placenta, Pre-Eclampsia, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Complications, Pregnancy Outcome, Umbilical Cord, Cohort Studies, Diabetes, Gestational, Hypertension, Pregnancy-Induced, Term Birth, Young Adult

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review