Muhammad Yasoob, Mulazim Hussain Bukhari, Zahra Haider Bokhari, Nadia Tazeen, Attiya Khalid.
The Morphological Changes in Umbilical Cord in Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH) with respect to severity of the Disease.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;8(3):583-90.

Aim: To evaluate the morphological changes in umbilical cord in pregnancy induced hypertension and its relationship with severity of the disease. Methods: A study was conducted on the fresh specimens of placentae with umbilical cords which were collected within 2 hours of delivery from emergency labour rooms of Lady Aitcheion Hospital and Lady Walingdon Hospital Lahore. The Umbilical Cords were removed from the babies by cutting along the clamp about 4-5 cm from fetal ends. The samples were divided into four groups comprising of 10 umbilical cords in group “B, C and D”, while 20 in group “A” (control group). Results: The morphological changes in umbilical cord in pregnancy induced hypertension were significantly associated with the severity of the disease. In this study, the color of the UC were significantly affected from the experimental group (p=0.002). The diameter of UC were significantly also significantly affected in the experimental groups (p=0.05). The histological changes produced by PIH were more pronounced in the umbilical veins compared to umbilical arteries, the caliber of these veins were significantly reduced (p=0.0002). The disruption of endothelium and basement membrane was observed in experimental groups and was directly related to the level of hypertension (p=0.02). Hypertrophy, fibrinoid necrosis and thrombosis of tunica media was observed in experimental groups as compared to control. The Wharton”s Jelly, cellularity was also decreased in experimental groups as compared to control group.

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