Aim: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of episiotomy and postepisiotomy complications and to assess the relationship between the risk factors and postepisiotomy complications in the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. Methodology: This was a descriptive longitudinal study, in which 403 consecutive women who had episiotomy in the labor ward were recruited for the study. They were followed up and reviewed at the postnatal clinic on the 1 st and 6 th weeks postdelivery. Data regarding age, marital status, occupation, educational status, address, parity, booking status, postepisiotomy complications, and the associated risk factors were entered adequately into a prestructured pro forma, and statistical analysis was done using statistical software (SPSS for Windows ® version 19.0). t-test was used to explore the association of risk factors to postepisiotomy complications. Results: The episiotomy rate was 22.1%. The prevalence of postepisiotomy complications was 52.1%. The mean age of the women was 23.8 (standard deviation ± 3.2) years. Seventy-two (34.3%) patients had perineal pain, which lasted for 72 h or more; 61 (29.1%) had difficulty in walking, while 37 (17.6%) had perineal discomfort. Four (1.9%) had wound infection and only one (0.4%) had wound dehiscence. The development of postepisiotomy complications was not statistically significantly associated with risk factors such as gestational age ( T = 1.4, P = 0.1), packed cell volume on admission ( T = 1.0, P = 0.2), duration of first stage of labor ( T = 0.5, P = 0.1), duration of second stage of labor ( T = 0.7, P = 0.3), duration of rupture of fetal membranes ( T = 0.8, P = 0.4), delivery repair interval ( T = 0.6, P = 0.2), estimated blood loss ( T = 0.9, P = 0.2), duration of Sitz bath ( T = 1.0, P = 0.2), duration of analgesic ( T = 1.2, P = 0.1), duration of antibiotics ( T = 1.3, P = 0.1), or the operator who performed or repaired the episiotomy ( P = 0.2). Conclusion: The prevalence of episiotomy and postepisiotomy complications in this study was high. Necessary attention should be given to ensure adequate pain relief for all parturients who had episiotomy, and the policy of restrictive use of episiotomy should be fully implemented in the department in line with the best practices and evidence-ba...

Background: Caesarean section (CS) is one of the most common surgical procedure in obstetrics. It involves a surgical incision made through the abdominal and uterine walls to deliver the foetus and placenta after the period of foetal viability.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study aimed at reviewing emergency caesarean section in Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH) over a 5-year period, to determine the prevalence and sequelae. Data were analysed using IBM Statistical Product and Service Solution (SPSS) version 25.0 (Armonk, NY).Results: During the review period, there were 13516 deliveries and 3699 cases of emergency CS, giving the prevalence of emergency CS as 27.4% or 274 per 1000 deliveries. Majority (90%) of the parturient were unbooked. The most common complication in women that had emergency caesarean section was fever (56.4%), followed by endometritis (14.7%), absconding from hospital (8.8%), urinary tract infection (7.1%) and wound infection (6.1%). There was a statistically significant association between types of CS and their sequelae, χ2=1153.9, p<0.001, (95% CI: 0.000, 0.000). Women that had emergency CS were 101 times more likely to have a complication compared to those that had planned CS.Conclusions: The rate of emergency caesarean section is high in RSUTH and with more complications compared to planned caesarean section. Booking for antenatal care, early presentation for delivery, birth preparedness and complication readiness will enhance improved maternal and perinatal outcome.

Background: Gynaecological malignancies continue to be an important public health problem globally and are among the leading causes of morbidity and cancer-related deaths worldwide. In developing countries there is poor awareness and late presentation, and specialized cancer treatment centers are few, necessitating the gynaecologists at the tertiary hospitals to render surgical care for some cancer patients. The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence, indications, and surgical outcome of hysterectomy for primary gynaecological malignancies and assess the associated factors.Methods: This was a retrospective review of hysterectomies performed between March 2015 and February 2021. Data were obtained from operating theater and gynaecological ward records. Information on age, parity, indication, length of surgery, blood loss and any blood transfusion, post-operative complication, and mortality, were extracted. Data were analyzed using Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20.Results: Of 1240 major gynaecological surgeries, 26 were hysterectomies for malignant conditions giving a prevalence of 2.1%. Commonest indication was Endometrial cancer 16 (61.5%), followed by cervical cancer 3 (11.5%) and ovarian malignancy 3 (11.5%). There was a significant relationship between age (p=0.027) with the indications for hysterectomy. Commonest complication was anaemia 6 (23.1%) and wound sepsis 5 (19.2%). Anaemia was significantly associated with duration of surgery (p=0.004) and estimated blood loss (p=0.005).Conclusions: The prevalence of 2.1% for a non-cancer center is a fair contribution to efforts at caring for cancer patients. All surgeries were simple TAH±BSO and more than half were done for endometrial cancer. Further training of cancer surgeons and establishment of a Cancer Centre in the State is needed.

The practice of abdominal massage dates to years ago and associated with foetal and maternal morbidity and mortality when undertaken by untrained traditional birth attendants in our setting. We present a 30-year old G3P2+0 with uterine rupture and intra-uterine foetal death following abdominal massage. She was resuscitated and had emergency exploratory laparotomy and repair of uterine rupture.