Original Research Article
Year: 2020 | Month: July | Volume: 10 | Issue: 7 | Pages: 51-56
Effect of Nuchal Cord on Duration of Labor
Saima Najam11, Sumayya Ejaz Malik2, Shehla Aqeel3, Nida Rizwan4, Ali Raza Haider5
1FCPS(Pak), PG Cert Med (Dundee), Consultant Obgyn , Sweidi Exit 26, Hamza Bin Abdulmutalib Street Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Hospital, Po box 5612, Riyadh 12944, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
2Soecialist Obgyn, Dr. Sulaiman Al-Habib Hospital, Sweidi, Riyadh
3Assistant Professor, Fatima Memorial Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan
4Medical Officer, Combined Military Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan
5Managing Partner of DVM Pharma, Lahore, Pakistan
Corresponding Author: Saima Najam
ABSTRACT
Background: Nuchal cord is the condition in which the umbilical cord is wound around the neck of the fetus. The presence of the nuchal cord is a random or chance event and usually associated with the long cord. Its association with the fetal distress is well recognized. However, little work has been published to analyse its effects on labour itself.
Objective: The objective of the study is to prove the null hypothesis that the nuchal cord is not associated with the increase in the duration of the labour.
Material and Methods: We have done a retrospective observational study to compare the effect of the nuchal cord on duration of labour in a study group with the control group which has no nuchal cord for a period of 6 months (first July 2019 -31 December 2019) in labor ward of Dr. Sulaiman Al-Habib Hospital, Sweidi, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Results: We concluded on the basis of our observations that the duration of active phase of first stage, second and the third stage of the labour was not affected by the nuchal cord, secondly the difference in weight of the babies in both the groups was also found statistically in significant. We observed that the nuchal cord is more common in male babies but the difference was not found statistically significant.
The only postpartum complication was postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) which was found in two patients who belonged to the nuchal cord group.
Conclusion: We hereby conclude on the basis of our observations that the nuchal cord itself is not associated with the prolonged labour and it does not affect the weight of the baby. In addition we found no significant gender dominance in the nuchal cord group. It was established that the nuchal cord is not a risk factor for the postpartum hemorrhage.
Key words: Pregnancy, labour, nuchal cord, neonate, birth weight, postpartum hemorrhage