THE MULTIVESSEL CORD

• Rarely reported.
• Hill 1987 (1) - 3 cases:
1. Normal infant.
2. Severe congenital abnormalities (thoracic ectopia cordis).
3. Cojoined twins.
• Saunders 1985 (2) - 4 cases of conjoined twins: One had a 6 vessel cord and no cardiac connection.
• Brenbridge 1987 (3), Hurren 1988 (4) - 5 vessel cords in a single case of conjoined twins.
• Kalbrechner 1988 (5) reported a single case of thoracopagus conjoined twins with a single umbilical cord containing three arteries and a vein that attached by velamentous insertion into one large placenta. The multivessel cord was thought to result from incomplete separation of the embryonic disc.
• Cohen 1992 (6) - reported two cases of multivessel umbilical cords associated with conjoint twinning.

REFERENCES

1. Hill L, Kislak S, Runco C. An ultrasonic view of the umbilical cord. J Clin Ultrasound 1978;6:32.
2. Saunders S, Chin A, Parness I et.al. Prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart defects in thoracoabdominally cojoined twins. N Eng J Med 1985;313 370.
3. Brenbridge A, Kraft J, Teja K. Sonographic findings in the prenatal diagnosis of cephalothoracagus syncephalus. A case report. J Reprod Med 1987;32:59.
4. Hurren A, Sommerville A, Warren V. Antenatal diagnosis of a set of cojoined twins presenting with unusual ultrasound findings. J Clin Ultrasound 1988;9:195.
5. Kalchbrennar M, Weiner S, Templeton J et.al. Prenatal ultrasound diagnosis of thoracopgus cojoined twins. J Clin Ultrasound 1987;15:59.
6. Cohen HL, Shapiro ML, Kaller JO, Schwartz D. The multivessel umbilical cord: An antenatal indicator of possible cojoined twinning. J Clin Ultrasound 1992;20:278-282.