European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine

Introduction: Long since the dispute regarding the time duration of umbilical cord clamping after birth in a neonate, there have been several recommendations for the same. The delayed cord clamping improves the cerebral blood volume in term and preterm neonates and it also decreases the risk of anemia in neonates, apart from multiple other maternal and neonatal benefits. Objectives: The purpose of this prospective study is to determine the effect of differential duration of cord clamping (at30seconds, 1min and 2min) on cerebral blood flow (middle cerebral artery flow dynamics) in normal term neonates. Methods: 390 deliveries, which fulfilled inclusion and exclusion criteria, in tertiary care centre were attended and the cord was clamped using aseptic precautions at 30 seconds, 1 minute and at 2 minutes exactly using random number table and the data were entered into master chart and then analysed using IBM SPSS statistical software. Results: The results showed no significant difference in cerebral blood flow hemodynamics, with different duration of cord clamping. Conclusion: Our hypothesis was that longer duration of cord clamping would lead to greater middle cerebral artery (MCA) blood flow velocity, but there was no significant change in hemodynamic parameters in middle cerebral artery blood flow with increasing duration of cord clamping. This implies that the known maternal and neonatal benefits of delayed cord clamping beyond 30 seconds were independent of cerebral circulation and hemodynamic parameters