Study of Obstetric Outcomes in Elective and Emergency Caesarean Section in Patients With Prior Lower Segment Caesarean Section

Abstract

Background:Acomprehensive study of maternal morbidity and mortality with perinatal outcome in patients with prior LSCS undergoing elective or emergency caesarean section was carried out. With the sky rocketing caesarean section rates worldwide an increasing number of women face the issue of mode of delivery in their current pregnancy. There are conicting reports regarding the safety of a trial for vaginal birth after caesarean delivery (VBAC) in terms of uterine rupture, maternal and perinatal morbidity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the obstetric and fetal outcomes of patients presenting at term with a history of previous one or more LSCS. Methods:Asix months prospective, observational study was conducted where all patients who had a term pregnancy with a history of previous one or more LSCS were included after obtaining their consent for participation. The obstetric and fetal outcomes of these patients with elective or emergency LSCS in the present pregnancy were noted and tabulated. Adescriptive analysis of these outcomes was carried out. Results: 100 Patients at term, with a history of previous one or more LSCS were studied. 38 patients underwent an elective repeat caesarean delivery and 62 in emergency.Scar dehiscence was seen in 35.5 % of the patients who were presented in emergency with uterine contractions or lower abdominal pain and those were not candidate for a trial for VBAC.All of the complications were signicantly higher in emergency group in terms of both maternal (83.9 % Vs 31.6%) and perinatal outcome (6.5% Vs 0 %). Conclusion:With an increase in the proportion of patients with a history of previous LSCS, it is essential for health care institutions to have proper antenatal counseling regarding plan of delivery and vigilance while operating patients with prior history of LSCS , especially in emergency situation. There should be a well dened management protocol in an effort to decrease the number of complications and bring down the overall maternal morbidity & mortality .