COMPARISON OF DURATION OF LABOUR BETWEEN PRIMIGRAVIDAS WITH AND WITHOUT AMNIOTOMY

BACKGROUND: Amniotomy is a common and routine obstetrical procedure in many labour wards. It ismostly performed with the intention of accelerating the process of labour. The procedure is not risk free andthe results of various studies performed on the subject are diverse. The rationale of this study was to obtainconclusive evidence on the effect of amniotomy on the duration of labour and to establish protocols forlabour wards in the light of thatevidence.OBJECTIVES: To compare the duration of labour between primigravidas with and without amniotomy.METHODOLOGY: The total number of patients was 50 in each group; A and B who were subjected toamniotomy and no amniotomy respectively. Duration of First and Second stage of labour were noted andStudent T- test was applied to find the significance of difference in the duration of First and Second stages oflabour of the two groups. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 17.0.Results:: The mean ages of patients in Group A and B were 22.6+ 2.66 and 23± 2.03 years respectively (pvalue 0.647). The mean duration of gestation of Group A was 38.8+0.50 weeks and of Group B was 39.16 ±0.52 weeks (p value 0.0634). The duration of First Stage was 169+77 min in Group Aand 205+105 minutesin Group B (p value 0.2877). The Second stage duration was 78.6+45 in Group A and 72 ±32 minutes inGroup B (p value 0.6434).CONCLUSION: Amniotomy has no significant effect in shortening the duration of labour inprimigravidas.KEYWORDS: Amniotomy, Primigravidas, Labour