Ultrasound evaluation of the amount of Wharton's jelly and the umbilical coiling index.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the association between the amount of Wharton's jelly (WJ) and the umbilical coiling index (UCI).


METHODS
The subjects included 140 pregnant women in the 2nd or 3rd trimester. The antenatal UCI was calculated as the reciprocal of the distance between a pair of coils. The sonographic cross-sectional areas of the cord, arteries and vein were measured. The WJ area was calculated by subtracting areas of the total vessels from the cord.


RESULTS
UCIs were significantly smaller and WJ areas were significantly greater in the 3rd trimester than in the 2nd trimester. No correlations were observed between the UCI and WJ area in both trimesters.


CONCLUSIONS
There is a reduction of the UCI during pregnancy. No direct correlations were found between the amount of WJ and UCI.
Kurita
Minoru
M
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Hasegawa
Junichi
J
Mikoshiba
Takao
T
Purwosunu
Yuditiya
Y
Matsuoka
Ryu
R
Ichizuka
Kiyotake
K
Sekizawa
Akhiko
A
Okai
Takashi
T
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014470:Umbilical Cord / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*