BACKGROUND Relatively little is known about current practice during the third stage of labour in low and middle income countries. We conducted a survey of attitudes and an audit of practice in a large maternity hospital in Albania. METHODS Survey of 35 obstetricians and audit of practice during the third stage was conducted in July 2008 at a tertiary referral hospital in Tirana. The survey qu...

Historically, in midwifery and obstetric care, the umbilical cord was not usually clamped until all pulsation of the cord had ceased. This is now referred to as delayed cord clamping or DCC (not clamping umbilical cord before two minutes of life). During the last one hundred years with changes in the ways women give birth, especially the shift toward hospital based birth in the Western world, i...

Delayed clamping of the umbilical cord is recommended for term and preterm infants who do not require resuscitation. However, the approach to the newly born infant with signs of fetal compromise, prematurity and extremely low birthweight, or prolonged apnea is less clear. Human and experimental animal data show that delaying the clamping of the umbilical cord until after the onset of respiratio...

BACKGROUND Clamping and cutting of the umbilical cord is the most prevalent of all operations, but the optimal timing of cord clamping is controversial, with different timings offering advantages and disadvantages. This study, for the first time, compares the influence of early and late cord clamping in correlation with oxidative stress and inflammation signaling, Because cord clamping timing m...

Posthemorrhagic anemia is a rare but important cause of anemia in neonates, second only to hemolytic anemia of newborn. Most cases of posthemorrhagic anemia are reported from fetomaternal hemorrhage or umbilical cord accidents in utero. This case report describes a preterm infant who developed severe anemia and shock immediately after delivery related to an acute hemorrhage through patent umbil...

There are many potential benefits of delayed or deferred cord clamping (DCC) compared with immediate cord clamping (ICC). Increasing placental transfusion by DCC increases neonatal blood volume and improves transitional hemodynamics. DCC may also increase iron stores, reducing childhood anemia and increasing the transfer of stem cells, which may have antiinflammatory neurotropic and neuroprotec...

Iron deficiency anemia is a serious health problem that affects the physical and cognitive development of children. Therefore, it is important to develop cost-effective interventions to improve the hematologic status of the millions of children affected by this condition worldwide. We studied 69 Guatemalan infants who had been randomly assigned to one of three groups at the time of delivery: 1)...

Immediate clamping of the umbilical cord can reduce the red blood cells an infant receives at birth by more than 50%, resulting in potential short-term and long-term neonatal problems. Cord clamping studies from 1980 to 2001 were reviewed. Five hundred thirty-one term infants in the nine identified randomized and nonrandomized studies experienced late clamping, ranging from 3 minutes to cessati...

background and aim: although nuchal cord is a common occurrence at birth, there is little attention to its importance or management at birth, and teaching includes premature clamping and cutting of the cord as the common option.  although grade 1 evidence is lacking, the optimal management of the nuchal cord,  the somersault manoeuvre  is not taught or included in any current guidelines. what e...

The timing of umbilical cord clamping during the third stage of labor has been a point of contention for many years. The estimated combined blood-volume of the fetal and placental unit is 105-110 ml/ kg [1,2]. Two thirds of this volume is in the fetal circulation and one third in the placenta. In his publication “Zoonomia; or The Laws of Organic Life” originally published in 1794, Erasmus Darwi...