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Significantly enlarged varix in the free-loop of the umbilical cord during the second trimester

  • Akiko Kurasaki , Junichi Hasegawa ORCID logo EMAIL logo , Natsumi Furuya ORCID logo , Chika Homma , Satoshi Harada , Ayako Miura , Haruhiro Kondo and Nao Suzuki
Published/Copyright: October 26, 2020

Abstract

Objectives

Umbilical cord varix is an abnormal dilatation of the umbilical vein. There are two types of umbilical venous varix, of which the free-loop type is extremely rare, and the prognosis and etiology are unclear. In this report, we present a case of a significantly enlarged varix in the free loop of the umbilical cord found in the second trimester.

Case presentation

Cesarean section was performed at 28 weeks’ gestation due to enlargement of the varix and rapidly increased umbilical venous velocity at the outlet of the varix. Neonatal blood tests revealed anemia and high concentrations of D-dimer, and they were considered to be due to clot formation inside the umbilical cord venous varix. The neonate received blood transfusion but other neonatal course was generally favorable. Thrombus formation in the enlarged varix was due to the constriction of the umbilical cord.

Conclusions

This case showed that the assessment of umbilical venous flow velocity can be used for estimating the constriction of the umbilical vein and for determining the timing of delivery.


Corresponding author: Dr. Junichi Hasegawa, MD, PhD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan, E-mail: .

  1. Research funding: None declared.

  2. Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  3. Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.

  4. Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.

  5. Ethical approval: All of the procedures performed in the present study were carried out in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committees on human experimentation (institutional and national) and the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008 (5).

References

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2. Beraud, E, Rozel, C, Milon, J, Darnault, P. Umbilical vein varix: importance of ante- and post-natal monitoring by ultrasound. Diagn Interv Imaging 2015;96:21–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diii.2014.01.009.Search in Google Scholar PubMed

3. White, SP, Kofinas, A. Prenatal diagnosis and management of umbilical vein varix of the intra‐amniotic portion of the umbilical vein. J Ultrasound Med 1994;13:992–4. https://doi.org/10.7863/jum.1994.13.12.992.Search in Google Scholar PubMed

4. Trobs, RB, Teig, N, Neid, G, Gernaianu, G, Kozlowski, P. Pseudotumerous enlargement of the umbilical cord owing to an intra-amniotic varicosity associated with thrombocytopenia. J Pediatr Surg 2012;47:1760–2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2012.06.018.Search in Google Scholar PubMed

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Supplementary Material

The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/crpm-2019-0006).


Received: 2019-01-25
Accepted: 2020-10-01
Published Online: 2020-10-26

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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