TITLE:
Vaginal Birth after One Caesarean Section—Ten Years Experience in a South Eastern Nigerian Hospital
AUTHORS:
O. U. Chidi Esike, C. Robinson Onoh, B. Okechukwu Anozie, U. J. Odidika Umeora, O. Christian Aluka, E. Deirdre Twomey
KEYWORDS:
One Previous Caesarean Section, Vaginal Birth, Southeast Nigeria
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Vol.6 No.4,
March
21,
2016
ABSTRACT: Background: The rising caesarean section rate worldwide is an increasing
source of concern to all. A significant contributor to this is a previous
caesarean delivery. One strategy in the armamentarium of obstetricians for
reducing this is vaginal birth after one caesarean section (VBAC). The safety,
outcome and complications of this procedure in our Center which is in a
developing country had never been studied hence the need for this work. Aim: To
find out the outcome and complications of vaginal births after one caesarean
delivery in our Center. Method: A retrospective study involving a ten-year
review of all cases of trials of labour after one caesarean delivery in our
Center was done. Result: Of the 305 trials of labour after one caesarean
delivery, 221 women had vaginal birth giving a vaginal birth after one
caesarean section rate of 72.5%. Majority of the babies 303 (99.2%) were alive
and had good Apgar scores while 2 (0.7%) died giving a perinatal mortality rate
of 7 per 1000 babies. There were complications in 21 (6.7%) of the women with retained
placenta, in 7 (2.3%) of the women as the commonest, followed by postpartum
haemorrhage in 6 (1.96%). Five (1.62%) women had scar dehiscence while 3
(0.98%) had uterine rupture. Conclusion: Vaginal birth after one caesarean
section is safe in well selected cases even in our resource poor settings. It
offers our women a culturally-acceptable option of fulfilling long-held dreams
of vaginal delivery even after one caesarean section and should be offered to
our women whenever possible.