Triple knot of umbilical cord – case report and review of literature

Abstract

Multiple true nodes of the umbilical cord are rarely described in literature and refer to patients suffering from pregnancy complications, such as intrauterine growth restriction, or oligohydramnios. We present a case of a 30-year-old woman, admitted for labor induction in the 41st week of her first pregnancy. After rupture of the membranes with no signs of infection, the patient had labor induced with oxytocin infusion, which had to be discontinued due to abnormalities in the cardiotocography, which persisted after infusion cessation and required an emergency cesarean section to be performed, during which a healthy male baby was born. The triple true node located 24 cm from the placental umbilical insertion was discovered in the 62 cm long umbilical cord, which had not been suspected ultrasonographically during the pregnancy. To our knowledge, our case is the first to date to illustrate the presence of multiple nodes of the umbilical cord, which did not lead to complications during pregnancy, but resulted in an urgent cesarean section. Our case illustrates a possible clinical challenge that may be faced by almost every practicing obstetrician-gynecologist.

Keywords

• cesarean section
• knot
• obstetrics
• umbilical cord