The Effect of Placental Cord Drainage on Postpartum Blood Loss

University of Tennessee

Status: Completed

Conditions: Postpartum Hemorrhage

Treatments: Procedure: Placental Blood Drainage; Procedure: Placenta Blood Not Drained

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05610345

21-08299-XP

Details and patient eligibility

About

To determine if placental cord drainage decreases the blood loss after spontaneous vaginal delivery

Full description

Postpartum hemorrhage complicates 3% of pregnancies in the United States and is a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality. ACOG defines PPH as cumulative blood loss greater than 1000cc; however a blood loss >500cc should be considered abnormal. Primary PPH occurs in the first 24 hours and is largely secondary to uterine agony. ACOG as well as the WHO recommend active management of the third stage of labor to prevent PPH. This includes oxytocin administration, uterine massage, and gentle cord traction. Placental cord drainage (PCD) is the unclamping of the umbilical cord to allow for drainage of the blood from the placenta. It is another technique used to shorten the third stage of labor; however, it has not been well studied

Enrollment: 71 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18 to 45 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Singleton Gestation
• Ages 18-45
• English Speaking
• Third Trimester Gestation

Exclusion criteria

• Operative Vaginal Delivery
• Multiple Gestation
• Cesarean Delivery
• Episiotomy
• 3rd or 4th degree laceration
• Less than the Third Trimester of Pregnancy
• Chorioamnionitis
• History of Postpartum Hemorrhage
• Macrosomic Infant

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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71 participants in 2 patient groups

Placenta Blood Drained

Experimental group

Description:

Immediately after delayed cord clamping and cutting of the umbilical cord, the cord will be unclamped and blood with be drained until cessation of flow.

Treatment:

Procedure: Placental Blood Drainage

Placenta Blood Not Drained

Active Comparator group

Description:

This is the control group. The cord will not be unclamped.

Treatment:

Procedure: Placenta Blood Not Drained