Perinatal Prognosis of Pregnancies with Single Umbilical Artery in a Romanian Third-Level Unit

Abstract

Objectives: Single umbilical artery (SUA) is considered the most common abnormality of the umbilical artery. The objective of the study was to evaluate the perinatal prognosis of fetuses with SUA and to describe the associated malformations. The significance of the study is represented by examining whether our findings are in correlation with data already described.Methods: We performed a prospective cohort study on singleton pregnancies complicated with SUA. The study population was composed of women with singleton pregnancies who were examined at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Târgu Mures County Emergency Clinical Hospital between 2012 and 2021.Results: The incidence of SUA in the study population was 0.48%. C-section was performed in 40 cases with SUA and in 5258 cases with no SUA (RR:1.56, P<0.05.) From the total number of 2249 premature deliveries, 23 newborns were diagnosed with SUA (RR:2.12, P<0.05.) From the total number of 869 deliveries with low birth weight (LBW) newborns, 13 were associated with SUA (RR: 3.12, P<0.05.) There were 206 pregnancies noted with antenatal fetal demise after 24 weeks of gestation, and only 2 of them were with SUA (RR:2.01, P>0.05.) Fetal and neonatal malformations were described in 290 cases, and 28 were associated with SUA (R:21.96, P<0.05.) In 57 of 85 cases (67.05%), we found iSUA, and 28 newborns (32.95%) had minor, major, or other associated pathologies. We found two cases of trisomy 18 and one case with trisomy 13 associated with SUA. Investigating the malformations associated with SUA, the most common were cardiac and great vessels malformations (12), followed by limb malformations (8), urogenital malformations (7), digestive tract malformations (7), central nervous system malformations (4), and in one case we found cleft palate.Conclusions: Perinatal prognosis regarding SUA is significantly poorer than in cases without this pathology. One-third of fetuses with SUA were associated with fetal anomalies. The most common pathologies associated with SUA were cardiovascular, limb, urogenital, and digestive system malformations. Our data are similar to those described in other studies; therefore, we conclude, we can implement the general recommendations in our region regarding counselling patients.

Keywords: Malformation; Perinatal; Prematurity; SUA; Single umbilical artery.