Trial of Labor After C/Section
Among pregnant women who have had a cesarean section, major complications, defined as a need for hysterectomy, uterine rupture, or operative injury, are almost twice as likely among those whose deliveries are managed with a trial of labor as among those who undergo an elective second c-section.[New England Journal of Med 335: 6891, 1996].
Researchers studied 6,138 women in Nova Scotia who had previously undergone C/S and had been delivered of a singleton live infant in the period from 1986 through 1992. While the overall rate of maternal complications did not differ significantly between the women who labored and the women who elected a second C/S and while Apgar scores, admission to the neonatal intensive care unit, and perinatal mortality were similar among the two groups of infants, major complications were nearly twice as likely among women undergoing a trial of labor.
For more recent information on these risks from the New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 340, January 7, 1999, click here.
Back to the Pregnancy Information page.