Patient's question:
How to determine if the umbilical artery is single or double on an ultrasound report? Does a single umbilical artery lead to no blood in the late-stage umbilical cord of the fetus?Doctor's answer:
Analysis of the condition: Hello: A single umbilical artery mainly requires thorough examination, exclusion of developmental abnormalities, and proper ultrasound screening for fetal anomalies. This will be indicated on the ultrasound report or mentioned by the examining doctor during the ultrasound examination.Recommendations: Generally, a fetus has two umbilical arteries and one umbilical vein. However, when a fetus has only one umbilical artery, it is referred to as a single umbilical artery. This phenomenon is relatively uncommon. A single umbilical artery is one of the markers of fetal abnormal development. However, having only this one marker does not indicate fetal developmental abnormalities or fetal chromosomal abnormalities.