Congenital heart defects and umbilical cord abnormalities, an unknown association?

INTRODUCTION: Few studies exist that research the association between umbilical cord characteristics with cardiac malformations. In this study, we describe a population of newborns with congenital heart defects (CHD) and the frequency of presentation of umbilical cord (UC) alterations, based upon the hypothesis that the continuity of the cardio-placental circuit can be affected by similar noxas during early development. METHODS: We carried out a descriptive study at a hospital in Bogota based on clinical records from newborns with congenital heart disease with placental and UC pathology results. Group analyses were done according to the major categories of the ICD-10. RESULTS: We analyzed 122 cases and found that the most frequent alterations where hypercoiling (27.9%) and abnormal UC insertion (16.4%). Additionally, in almost every group of CHD, more than 65% of patients had some type of cord alteration. CONCLUSION: We discovered a high frequency of UC alterations in patients with CHD. This outcome suggests that a possible association exists between the two phenomena, further research is needed.