The value of umbilical cord insertion site sampling in detecting maternal and/or fetal inflammatory response

The 2016 Amsterdam Placental Workshop Group Consensus Statement recommends sampling a block of the placenta close to the umbilical cord insertion site (UCIB) for histopathological evaluation. This piece of placenta at the umbilical cord insertion is presumed to give a better yield of inflammation (if present). We aimed to investigate the utility of the UCIB in the detection of maternal and/or fetal inflammatory responses (MIR and/or FIR), in comparison with the other sections of the placental parenchyma. This is a retrospective cross-sectional study including all placentas with histologic chorioamnionitis. The histopathological slides of placentas were reviewed as per Amsterdam consensus guidelines. Diagnostic performance of UCIB in identifying MIR and/or FIR, relative to the other placental sections, was assessed. UCIB revealed diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of 79.2% (95% CI: 74.2-83.6%), 100.0% (95% CI: 95.6-100.0%), and 83.6% (95% CI: 79.5-87.2%), respectively, in the detection of FIR, while showing a low sensitivity of 52.6% (95% CI: 47.5-57.6%) in detecting MIR. In 59 (24.6%) cases, FIR was not seen in the corresponding placental parenchymal sections but was detected in the UCIBs. This study is the first study to confirm that a section from the UCIB is essential for the detection of FIR, which affirms the Amsterdam consensus sampling recommendations.