Indications, Complications and fetal outcomes-a comparison between emergency and elective cesarean sections

ABSTRACT

A comparison was made between emergency and elective caesarean sections regarding their indications, complications and fetal outcomes. This paper is based on two studies. During these studies 390 [19.70%] elective and 1589 [80.29%] emergency caesareans were done. Common indications for emergency were failure to progress 276 [17.36%], fetal distress 239 [15.04%] and CPD 201 [12.64%], while major indications for elective sections were breech presentation 94 [24.10%] and cases with previous 2 or more caesarean sections 86 [22.05%]. Complications like anaesthetic problems, bleeding and infection occurred more frequently in the emergency cases. There were 7 maternal deaths in emergency group while none in elective cases. There were 96 [6.04%] perinatal deaths in emergency cases as compared to l l [2.82%] in elective ones. Neonatal complications like asphyxia, birth trauma, infections and jaundice were more commonly found in the emergency cases