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Updated: Oct 29, 2025
The 4-vessel Sampling Approach to Integrative Studies of Human Placental Physiology In Vivo
Published on: August 2, 2017
Characterization of vitelline vessel remnant circulation in the umbilical cord
John Kemuel De Guzman1, Weiming Yu2, Christopher Horn1
1Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Alberta Children's Hospital, Alberta Precision Laboratories and the University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine, 28 Oki Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, T3B 6A8, Canada.
The vitelline circulation normally regresses by about 10 weeks gestation. Vitelline vessel remnants (VVRs) are found in approximately 4-11% of umbilical cords. While these remnants retain an active fetal circulation, this has never been studied. Using an operating microscope, VVRs were catheterized, injected with ink, and then examined grossly and histologically. Over 90% of VVRs are paired thin-walled vessels with afferent and efferent circulation completed within the cord via capillary plexuses and bridging vessels; <10% are single thin-walled arterial vessels running the length of the cord to the placental disc, with their venous return circulation via allantoic umbilical vessels.
The vitelline circulation normally regresses by about 10 weeks gestation. Vitelline vessel remnants (VVRs) are found in approximately 4-11% of umbilical cords. While these remnants retain an active fetal circulation, this has never been studied. Using an operating microscope, VVRs were catheterized, injected with ink, and then examined grossly and histologically. Over 90% of VVRs are paired thin-walled vessels with afferent and efferent circulation completed within the cord via capillary plexuses and bridging vessels; <10% are single thin-walled arterial vessels running the length of the cord to the placental disc, with their venous return circulation via allantoic umbilical vessels.
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