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CompletedNCT01523769Updated Feb 1, 2012

Umbilical Cord Milking on the Reduction of Red Blood Cell Transfusion Rates in Infants

An interventional study of Umbilical Cord Milking in Prematurity, sponsored by Eastern Virginia Medical School. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to female participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2012-02-01.

Sponsored by Eastern Virginia Medical School · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
113
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
Female
01

Study summary

Delayed cord clamp of at least 30 seconds in neonates under 37 weeks has shown that these infants have higher circulating blood volume in the first 24 hours, less need for blood transfusions, and less incidence of intraventricular hemorrhage. Delayed umbilical cord clamping has also been shown to increase the initial hematocrit and decrease the need for red blood cell (RBC) transfusions compared with no intervention in infants born between 27 and 33 weeks' gestation. However, a delay in cord clamping of 30-45 seconds may theoretically interfere with neonatal resuscitation. There have been few studies that addressed the active milking of the cord and its effect on neonatal resuscitation. Active milking of the umbilical cord towards the baby prior to clamping (rather than passive) should take less than 5 seconds to perform and should not interfere with neonatal resuscitation. Umbilical cord milking, as an alternative to delayed cord clamping, has been shown to increase the circulatory blood volume expressed as the hemoglobin value. Active milking of the cord prior to clamping, however, is not considered standard of care and only 1 Japanese randomized control study has reported that umbilical cord milking reduces the need for RBC transfusions, thus reducing the number of infants requiring a RBC transfusion as compared with control conditions. Our study aims to test the hypothesis that active milking of the umbilical cord will reduce the need for transfusion in preterm infants.

Read the detailed description

The proposed design is a randomized controlled trial. Pregnant women at risk for delivering a singleton preterm infant between 24 and 28 weeks gestation will be randomized prior to delivery into one of two treatment arms. Common reasons for needing to be delivered at this early gestational age include but are not limited to: preterm labor not responding to tocolytic medications, incompetent cervix with cervical dilation and no contractions, clinical chorioamnionitis requiring delivery for maternal/fetal benefit, severe preeclampsia, severe growth restriction with a non-reassuring fetal heart rate tracing. The first arm will include active milking of the umbilical cord toward the neonate's umbilicus prior to cord clamping at delivery while the second arm will not include this intervention and will have their respective cord immediately clamped in the usual fashion post delivery (control).

02

Conditions studied

  • Prematurity

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Keywords

  • prematurity
  • umbilical cord milking
  • delayed cord clamping
  • neonatal transfusion
03

In context

Premature Birth

2,553 studies on the registry are indexed under Premature Birth; 498 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 113 is above the median of 84 across 1,688 interventional studies indexed under Premature Birth.

Browse Premature Birth studies →

Lead sponsor

Eastern Virginia Medical School is the lead sponsor of 56 studies on the registry; 8 are open to participants now.

Of its 9 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 1 (11%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
Female
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

  • Singleton pregnancy
  • Delivery anticipated between 24 and 28+6 weeks gestation
  • There is enough time from admission to anticipated delivery to properly obtain consent from the patient

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Multifetal gestation
  • Antenatally diagnosed major congenital anomaly
  • Known Rh sensitized pregnancy
  • Hydrops fetalis (any etiology)
  • Known positive maternal Parvovirus titers
  • Elevated peak systolic velocity of the fetal Middle Cerebral Artery (MCA)
  • Clinical suspicion of placental abruption at delivery due to excessive maternal bleeding or uterine hypertonicity
  • Maternal age under 18
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
113 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • No intervention
    Control

    Control group, the cord was not milked

  • Experimental
    Umbilical Cord Milking

    Approximately 10 cm of umbilical cord was milked toward the baby immediately following delivery

    Procedure: Umbilical Cord Milking

Interventions

  • ProcedureUmbilical Cord Milking

    Approximately 10 cm of umbilical cord was milked toward the baby immediately following delivery. (The blood remaining in the umbilical cord after delivery is squeezed in the direction from the placenta (remaining inside the uterus) toward the newborn baby.)

    Also known as: Umbilical Cord Milking, autotransfusion

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Red blood cell transfusion

    need for packed red blood cell transfusion in the first 28 days of neonatal life

    Time frame: 28 days

Secondary outcomes

  1. Volume of blood transfusion

    total volume of packed RBC's transfused in first 28 days of neonatal life

    Time frame: 28 days

  2. Intraventricular Hemorrhage

    diagnosis of IVH in first 28 days of neonatal life

    Time frame: 28 days

  3. Days until transfusion

    number of days until first RBC transfusion in first 28 days of life

    Time frame: 28 days

  4. Respiratory Distress Syndrome

    diagnosis of RDS in first 28 days of neonatal life

    Time frame: 28 days

  5. Retinopathy of Prematurity

    diagnosis of ROP in first 28 days of neonatal life

    Time frame: 28 days

  6. Chronic Lung Disease

    diagnosis of CLD in first 28 days of neonatal life

    Time frame: 28 days

  7. Sepsis

    diagnosis of sepsis in first 28 days of neonatal life

    Time frame: 28 days

  8. Necrotizing Enterocolitis

    diagnosis of nec in first 28 days of neonatal life

    Time frame: 28 days

  9. Apgar scores

    1, 5, and 10 minute Apgars scores

    Time frame: 10 minutes

  10. cord PH

    umbilical cord pH immediately after delivery

    Time frame: 1 hour

  11. Neonatal resuscitation

    Neonatal Resuscitation measures immediately after birth, including intubation, surfactant administration, stimulation, compressions, epinephrine

    Time frame: 1 hour

  12. Initial Hemoglobin/Hematocrit

    Initial neonatal H/H

    Time frame: 1 day

  13. Initial blood pressure

    Initial neonatal blood pressure

    Time frame: 1 day

  14. Neonatal jaundice

    Need for bili lights to treat neonatal jaundice, maximum total bilirubin, number of days of bili lights

    Time frame: 28 days

  15. Neonatal death

    Incidence of neonatal death in the first 28 days of life, age of neonate at death

    Time frame: 28 days

  16. Length of admission

    Length of neonatal admission (up to 28 days)

    Time frame: 28 days

  17. Length of intubation

    Length of need for neonatal intubation in first 28 days of life

    Time frame: 28 days

  18. Periventricular Leukomalacia

    diagnosis of PVL in first 28 days of neonatal life

    Time frame: 28 days

  19. Hyperkalemia

    diagnosis of Hyperkalemia in first 28 days of neonatal life

    Time frame: 28 days

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Eastern Virginia Medical School
    Norfolk, Virginia 23507, United States
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Feb 1, 2012, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT01523769
Lead sponsor
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Feb 1, 2012
Start date
Sep 2009
Primary completion
Nov 2011
Completion
Nov 2011
Last update
Feb 1, 2012

Study contacts

Margarita deVeciana, MD
principal investigator · Eastern Virginia Medical School

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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