Pathological evidence of prolonged umbilical cord encirclement as a cause of fetal death.

A case is presented in which autopsy findings (deep groove around the fetal waist and buttock), and gross and microscopic umbilical cord and placental examination (linear ulcer of umbilical cord histologically rimmed by fetal epidermal implants with evidence of remote bleeding) established the diagnosis of umbilical cord encirclement as a cause of intrauterine fetal death despite the lack of prenatal or postnatal obstetrical evidence.