Management of Full Term Births in Women with Prior Cesarean section; Sublingual misoprostol; Prevention; Postpartum hemorrhage......

Abstract

Introduction: Increased prevalence of uterus with prior cesarean sections is due to rising rate of cesarean births worldwide. Birth management after a prior cesarean section is a challenging issue, since medical practices are divergent. Objectives: Analyze pregnancy outcome and management of childbirth from a uterus with one cesarean scar. Setting and method: It was an observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study carried out from December 15, 2014 to September 14, 2015 in the University Clinic of Gynecology and Obstetrics (CUGO) of the National University Teaching Hospital (CNHU-HKM) of Cotonou. It involved 132 female patients. The data were analyzed with Epi Info 7 software. Results: The prevalence of childbirth on uterus with one prior C-section is 7.57%. Patients' mean age was 30 years. Most of them were admitted for second childbirth. Most pregnancies were singleton ones (94.70%). The interval between cesarean section and current childbirth is higher than 24 months in most cases (83.76%). The rate of uterine contraction is low (29.55%); the same applies to the one of vaginal birth (25%). The main indications for repeat cesarean section were narrowing of the pelvis (19.19%), acute fetal distress (14.14%) and renal vascular diseases (11.11%). The maternal and perinatal prognosis for vaginal birth had been better than the one of repeat cesarean section. Conclusion: The challenging issue of childbirth management in women with one prior C-section is still a matter of concern in Cotonou. Some efforts still have to be made to improve technical medical equipment so as to extend the indications for uterine contraction during labor, thereby contributing to reduce the rate of repeat cesarean section.