ABSTRACT
Reduction in amount of bleeding during cesarean delivery has a considerable impact on maternal health. To determine whether the method used to expand the uterine incision for caesarean delivery affects the incidence of intra-operative hemorrhage. This was a clinical, single blind trial, carried out at Kosar Hospital, Qazvin [Iran] during 2003-2004. The study population consisted of 1000 women who were randomly subjected to cesarean delivery with sharp or blunt expansion method. Demographic information, pre- and 48 hr post-operative hemoglobin and hematocrit levels were recorded. The data were further analyzed using SPSS software, chi-square pair, and t-test. Compared /vixh the blunt group, change in mean hematocrit [4.18 +/- 2.8 versus 3.36 +/- 2.7 or 10.9% versus 8.92%, p<0.001], incidence of postpartum hemorrhage [57.6% versus 42%, p<0.005] were significantly greater in the sharp group. In cesarean delivery, sharply expanding of uterine incision significantly increases intraoperative blood loss