Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings April 2014, Volume 27, Number 2 | Page 69

Fetal demise due to cord entanglement in the early second trimester Rahime Nida Ergin, MD, Murat Yayla, MD, and Ayse Seda Ergin, MD In this report, we describe a rare cause of in utero fetal death, a complex entanglement of the umbilical cord around the fetal neck. At the 16th gestational week of pregnancy, routine fetal ultrasonography showed no fetal heartbeat. Thereafter, the fetus was delivered vaginally in the breech presentation. The neck was found to be encircled by multiple tight loops of the umbilical cord. Other than a thin and elongated neck, there were no dysmorphic features and no chromosomal abnormality on cytogenetic analysis. C ord entanglement is a common finding in utero; however, fetal demise resulting from nuchal cord entanglement is rare (1–8). This report describes such a case. CASE PRESENTATION The 37-year-old patient had no history of familial genetic disease and no systemic disease. In her previous pregnancy, she delivered a healthy baby girl vaginally at the age of 31 years. The present pregnancy was conceived naturally. Screening completed at the 12+3 gestational week, which included fetal nuchal translucency measurement, maternal serum pregnancy-associated plasma protein A levels, an Bg&VR&WFևV