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Should obstetricians support a ‘term cephalic trial’?
Author(s) -
Robson Stephen,
Ellwood David
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.734
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1479-828X
pISSN - 0004-8666
DOI - 10.1046/j.0004-8666.2003.00113.x
Subject(s) - medicine , external cephalic version , pregnancy , randomized controlled trial , obstetrics , elective caesarean section , caesarean delivery , term (time) , vaginal delivery , caesarean section , intensive care medicine , surgery , breech presentation , genetics , physics , quantum mechanics , biology
Recent analyses of the published data suggest that the risks of elective Caesarean delivery in an uncomplicated pregnancy may not outweigh the benefits of vaginal birth by as much as has been supposed. Indeed, this balance may be so close that the place of elective Caesarean delivery of a term cephalic baby might be considered as a worthwhile subject of a randomised controlled trial. We discuss the potential consequences of such a trial and what effect it could have on obstetric practice.