A History of Vasa Previa

1. 1773Göttingen

   Wrisberg describes the velamentous cord

   The anatomist Heinrich August Wrisberg described an umbilical cord inserting into the membranes, from a delivery in 1766, and illustrated it. He warned that injury to these unprotected vessels could cause lethal fetal hemorrhage. His paper was read to the Göttingen Royal Society in 1773 and printed in 1774.

   Read the original (Latin), Internet Archive
2. 1778Leiden

   Sandifort warns against tearing the membranes

   Eduard Sandifort cautioned that rough tearing of the membranes is dangerous when vessels run through them, because the torn vessels can bleed.

   Observationes anatomico-pathologicae, book 1, Leiden, 1778, as quoted by Benckiser (1831)
3. 1801Strasbourg

   Lobstein links the vessels to fetal hemorrhage

   Jean-Frédéric Lobstein described an unusual course of the umbilical vessels through the membranes and drew attention to the danger: bleeding from these vessels could be fatal to the baby. He advised clinicians to keep the arrangement in mind before rupturing the membranes, and to complete the delivery quickly if bleeding began.

   Archives de l'art des accouchemens, Strasbourg, 1801 · Duchatel's 1982 history, with quotations (French, PDF)
4. 1831Heidelberg

   Benckiser describes vasa previa and the fatal hemorrhage

   On 7 December 1830, at the Heidelberg lying-in hospital, a vessel the thickness of a quill was felt running across the cervix through the intact membranes. When the membranes ruptured, steady bleeding followed and the baby could not be saved. The placenta showed a velamentous insertion with a torn branch of the umbilical vein. Robert Benckiser published the case in his 1831 dissertation, with a plate of the injected vessels. His advice: keep the membranes intact as long as possible and deliver quickly once they rupture. Fetal bleeding from torn membrane vessels is still sometimes called Benckiser's hemorrhage.

   Read the original dissertation (Latin), Internet Archive · History reviewed in Schenone et al., J Clin Med 2025

1. 1842Germany

   Hüter: "vasa funiculi umbilicalis praevia"

   Carl Christian Hüter wrote on the presenting position of the cord vessels and is credited with the Latin phrase "vasa funiculi umbilicalis praevia", the umbilical cord vessels that lie in front of the presenting part.

   Neue Zeitschrift für Geburtskunde 1842;12:48, as reported by Duchatel (1982)
2. 1882Edinburgh

   Earliest English use found: Croom

   John Halliday Croom reviewed the German and French cases for the Edinburgh Obstetrical Society and wrote of cord vessels over the os, "Such are vasa praevia," using the term as an established name.

   Croom JH. Funic haemorrhage during labour. Edinb Med J 1882
3. 1912London

   The term is standard

   Herbert Williamson, reporting a baby's death from ruptured umbilical vessels during labor, notes that such vessels "are termed vasa prævia."

   Williamson H. Proc R Soc Med 1912;5:279-286
4. 1921London

   A baby saved by cesarean section

   A. J. McNair described a pregnant woman at Guy's Hospital with placenta previa and a velamentous insertion whose vessels lay over the internal os. A vessel tore when the membranes ruptured, and the baby survived delivery by cesarean section.

   McNair AJ. Placenta prævia, with vasa prævia; cæsarean section. Proc R Soc Med 1921 (PDF on PubMed Central)
5. 1951United States

   The American spelling, "vasa previa"

   The spelling without the "a" (previa rather than praevia) appears in an indexed article title in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

   Groseclose, Am J Obstet Gynecol 1951 (PubMed)

1. 1998

   A strategy to reduce deaths

   Dr. Yinka Oyelese and colleagues proposed transvaginal sonography with color Doppler as a strategy for reducing the mortality rate from vasa previa.

   Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 1998;12:434
2. 1999

   "An avoidable obstetric tragedy"

   Dr. Oyelese's review set out the case that deaths from vasa previa can be prevented.

   Obstet Gynecol Surv 1999;54:138
3. 2004

   Prenatal diagnosis changes outcomes

   A multicenter study of 155 pregnancies, led by Dr. Oyelese, showed that diagnosis before labor was the factor that changed outcomes for babies with vasa previa.

   Obstet Gynecol 2004;103:937-942
4. 2021

   The survival gap quantified

   A meta-analysis found perinatal survival of 98.6% with prenatal diagnosis and 72.1% without.

   Zhang et al. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2021 · See the risks by the numbers
5. 2022

   The case for screening

   Oyelese, Lees and Jauniaux argued that the time had come to implement screening for vasa previa as a life-saving strategy.

   Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2022 (PDF)
6. 2024

   International expert consensus

   An international panel led by Dr. Oyelese reached consensus on the definition, screening, management and timing of delivery for vasa previa in singleton pregnancies.

   Am J Obstet Gynecol 2024;231:638.e1-e24 · Use it in the Pathway tool

Two hundred years apart. Benckiser's advice in 1831 was to keep the membranes intact and deliver quickly once they rupture. Today the same danger is found on ultrasound weeks before labor, so delivery can be planned before the membranes ever rupture.