ABSTRACT
The present state of vaginal delivery following a previous cesarean section (CS) was evaluated through a nation wide survey, including 22,815 deliveries. The overall cesarean rate was 9.6%. Of all the parturients with one previous cesarean section 55.1% delivered vaginally. A previous CS and labor arrest were the major indications for a repeated CS in 28.7% and 26.4%, respectively. Rupture of the uterus following vaginal delivery was found more often in the group with a previous CS than in those with no uterine scar (1.2% and 0.03%, respectively), (P less than 0.0001). None of the uterine ruptures was fatal neither to the mother nor to the fetus. Post partum fever appeared more often among vaginal deliveries following a CS than among those with no uterine scar. However, CS is followed by fever 10.8 times more than vaginal delivery. Intrapartum and neonatal death rates following vaginal delivery were similar for those with or without a previous CS (3.42% and 3.38%, respectively). An average of 3 hospitalization days were saved for each vaginal birth replacing a repeated CS. It is concluded that vaginal delivery, following CS, does not cause substantial morbidity, nor mortality either to the mother or the neonate, and may be practiced with a reasonable margin of safety in well selected cases.
