Paper Title
Variations in Placental Attachment of Umbilical Cord and Vascular Pattern of Chorionic Blood Vessels in Pre-Eclamptic Pregnancies

Abstract
The umbilical cord is a tube like structure that connects the fetus with the placenta which provides oxygen and nutrients to the fetus and removes waste products. Deformities in the development and site of attachment of the umbilical cord can affect maternal and fetal well-being. The study was done in 32 placentae which were collected from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Yenepoya Medical College, Mangalore, Karnataka, India, during the period from January 2017 to June 2017. The study aimed to assess the variations in the placental attachment of umbilical cord and vascular pattern of chorionic blood vessels in normal and pre-eclamptic pregnancies, thereby analyse the effect of variations in cord insertions on fetal birth weight. In the present study, common site of insertion of umbilical cord was eccentric (62.5%) in both pre-eclamptic and normal pregnancies. Marginal attachment of cord was seen in 33% of pre-eclamptic cases and there was no marginal cord insertion in normal pregnancies. We found that placentae with marginal cord insertions were associated with low fetal birth weight and the magistral type distribution of umbilical vessels was found with marginal cord insertion. Keywords - Birth weight, Cord insertion, Pre-eclampsia, Placenta, Umbilical cord.