for providing postnatal placental transfusion
to infants born by emergency Cesarean
section, by removing the placenta with the
baby without cutting the cord, and placing the
placenta in a funnel hung above the baby
(see picture to right). For comparison, they
did the same with vaginally delivered babies,
using a temporary clamp on the cord until the
placenta was delivered.
Secher and Karlberg cited several earlier
investigations of placental transfusion
volumes (Haselhorst 1929, Allmeling 1930,
deMarsh et al. 1942, Ballentine 1949, and
Hormann & Lemits 1954). They noted, "Late
clamping of the cord has been an accepted
rule in normal deliveries, and its importance
was pointed out by Erasmus Darwin as early
as 1801." The Cochrane Review should have
included all of these earlier studies on the
benefits of placental transfusion.
