Whole blood volumes associated with milking intact and cut umbilical cords in term newborns

Objectivethe objective of this study is to determine placental transfusion blood volumes with intact and cut umbilical cord milking in term newborns.study designsixty women at ≥37 weeks’ gestation were enrolled. following delivery, the umbilical cord was immediately clamped and cut to separate the newborn. either intact umbilical cord milking (i-ucm) of the placental–umbilical cord unit or cut umbilical cord milking (c-ucm) of the cut umbilical cord segment was performed. for i-ucm, the cord underwent milking three or four times while being attached to placental circulation. for c-ucm, a 10, 20, or 30 cm cord segment was cut separately and milked four times. blood volumes were compared between i-ucm and c-ucm methods.resultsmean blood volume with i-ucm (×4) was increased compared to the 30 cm c-ucm technique (48.5 ± 19.0 vs. 24.8 ± 4.0 ml, p < 0.001). for c-ucm, blood volume increased proportionally to cord length and, by the second milking, 98.1 ± 4.5% of blood volume was delivered.conclusioni-ucm provides a greater blood volume than c-ucm. with c-ucm, milking the cord more than twice offers no additional advantage.