Tayyaba Manzoor, Muhammad Arshad Hussain, Sumaira Sehar, Uzma Yaqoob.
Comparison of Delayed Versus Early Clamping of the Umbilical Cord in Preterm Neonates.
J Fatima Jinnah Med Coll Lahore Jan ;7(2):92-4.

Background: Umbilical cord after birth may be clamped early (<30 seconds) or late (30-120 seconds). Early clamping leads to deprivation of fetus from blood whereas later clamping may provide this extra blood to the fetus but may cause polycythemia and hyperbilirubinemia. Objective: To compare the mean hematocrit in early versus delayed cord clamping in preterm neonates. Subjects and Methods: This randomized control trial study was carried out at Department of Obstetrics & gynecology, Unit-I, Lady Willingdon Hospital, Lahore between 21st May 2012 to 20th November, 2012. Total 100 cases were selected and divided into two groups; group A, early cord clamping technique was applied while in group B, delayed cord clamping technique was applied. Each group comprised 50 patients. After 24 hours of birth blood of neonates was drawn with the help of a trained staff nurse and sent to the laboratory of Lady Willingdon hospital for assessment of hematocrit level. Results: Majority of the patients in both groups were recorded between 20-25 years i.e. 62%(n=31) in early and 54%(n=27) in delayed cord clamping group, the final outcome of the study was calculated, haematocrit levels was 46.88±3.08 in early and 53.42±3.92 in delayed group. Statistically the difference was significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: Delayed cord clamping is more effective than early cord clamping regarding preservation of normal hematocrit in preterm infants.

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