single umbilical artery

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Hi guys, someone on another board I frequent asked this question below and I'm a bit baffled because it's not my area of expertise. Any advice or information, or sources would be appreciated. Thanks.

Here's the post:

"I was wondering if any of you have any experience with this or know anyone who has dealt with it. my best friend is six months pregnant and a few weeks ago found out that there is an abnormality with the babies umbilical cord. typically the umbilical cord consists of one vein and two arteries but baby bethany (yes! she is being named after me, such an honor : ) has only one artery. i guess 1% of babies born have this condition. this can lead to various health concerns or this can have no ill-effect. nonetheless, anytime there's something "not right" with your baby it's cause for concern. i'd appreciate anything you could share. searching online leads to more negative stories than positive but her doctor doesn't seem too concerned. btw, she has tested negative for all of the potentially "bigger" problems, so for that we are all grateful."

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Tweety, here is an excellent article from eMedicine:

http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic3276.htm

A good US view:

http://www.fetalmedicine.ac.uk/lib/fetus/htdocs_us/ua.html

Newborn Services Clinical Guidelines:

http://www.adhb.govt.nz/newborn/Guidelines/Anomalies/SUA.htm

I do hope all is o.k. .........

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Thanks Siri, you be da bomb! I'll bump it up in case more people can add input.

Has anyone delivered a baby with this condition?

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

yes, a couple, tweety. the ones i've delievered had anomalies (plural).

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Thanks again Siri.

If there are no anomalies are there any concerns?

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Specializes in NICU.
Has anyone delivered a baby with this condition?

I've seen quite a few babies with two vessel cords in the NICU. The first link that Siri sent was right on - we definitely see more of this is cases of multiples. Usually it's one of the babies, and the other twin or triplets are fine. We do an ECHO and renal ultrasound on all of these babies to rule out any abnormalities. If they have other issues going on or don't look normal, we'll also do chromosomes to rule out any syndromes. I'd say about 50% of the time there are other things going on with the baby.

Most of the time the babies seem to do just fine, even if they have some other abnormalities. As for the 50% or so that don't seem to have problems, I only see them as babies so I'm not sure what happens after that.

If she's had other tests done (ultrasound, bloood, amnio) and the "big" things have been negative, then that's definitely a good sign!

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
I've seen quite a few babies with two vessel cords in the NICU. The first link that Siri sent was right on - we definitely see more of this is cases of multiples. Usually it's one of the babies, and the other twin or triplets are fine. We do an ECHO and renal ultrasound on all of these babies to rule out any abnormalities. If they have other issues going on or don't look normal, we'll also do chromosomes to rule out any syndromes. I'd say about 50% of the time there are other things going on with the baby.

Most of the time the babies seem to do just fine, even if they have some other abnormalities. As for the 50% or so that don't seem to have problems, I only see them as babies so I'm not sure what happens after that.

If she's had other tests done (ultrasound, bloood, amnio) and the "big" things have been negative, then that's definitely a good sign!

You are very correct, Gompers.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

Tweety I have seen several babies w/this condition, including my nephew. All were fine.

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Hi, this is my first post.

I know 2 children that had single umbilical artieries. Both boys, both healthy.

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Hi!

My daughter had the same condition. We were told that she was at an increased risk for kidney disease, Down's Syndrome, among other things. We were pretty worried for a while--the doctor almost made it sound like it was inevitable that something would be wrong. I'm happy to report that my daughter, almost 13, was born perfectly healthy. Guess she just didn't need that extra artery. :uhoh3:

Lori

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Hey

There were about 3 of us all pregnant at the same time in my department, one had a single artery. She was fine, is fine. She was a little peanut about 5 pounds but healthy. Don't worry

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Thanks guys. I knew you guys would help. Please feel free to continue to respond, the more, the better. :)

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