Placental transfusion as an intrauterine phenomenon in deliveries complicated by foetal distress.

The details of the deliveries of 10 infants whose cords were clamped before the onset of respiration and within one minute of delivery of the chin but whose residual placental volumes were unexpectedly low are compared with 20 control infants whose cords were clamped under similar conditions but who had the expected residual placental volumes. The only statistically significant difference between these groups was in the high number of patients with foetal distress and low Apgar scores in the former group. It is concluded that placental transfusion occurred before delivery in these patients and that foetal asphyxia facilitated this transfusion, which may be the underlying mechanism of neonatal erythrocythaemia or transient tachypnoea of the newborn.