How safe is preterm operative vaginal delivery and which is the instrument of choice?

摘要

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine neonatal outcomes in preterm operative vaginal delivery given the current paucity of data available to guide clinicians. Study design: A retrospective review of 64 cases was conducted, and neonatal outcomes were compared to spontaneous vaginal deliveries in similar gestations. The primary outcomes studied were death and occurrence of intraventricu-lar haemorrhage. Secondary outcomes included admission to NICU, Apgar <3 at 5 min, ventilation requirement, jaundice requiring treatment, culture-proven sepsis and necrotis-ing enterocolitis. The study was conducted in a stand-alone maternity unit of approximately 9000 deliveries per year. Results and conclusions: We concluded that although vacuum delivery is avoided in preterm infants, outcomes were similar to forceps deliveries of similar gestations.