PubMed · 6891983
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B Jordan. External cephalic version.. https://doi.org/10.1300/j013v07n03_07
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OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to determine the feasibility of resolving the controversy regarding route of delivery for breech presentation in a randomized, prospective fashion. STUDY DESIGN: The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development-sponsored Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network, which is composed of 11 perinatal centers, was surveyed to determine the feasibility of a randomized clinical trial of cesarean section versus trial of labor for breech presentation. A review of the literature was performed to determine the experience of other investigators with designing and conducting an adequate prospective, randomized trial. RESULTS: Principal investigators and faculty from seven of 11 centers within the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network agreed to participate adn felt that they could adequately recruit patients for a trial in very-low-birth-weight infants. This would provide approximately 200 very-low-birth-weight fetuses in a breech presentation per year. Sample size calculations indicated that 1700 infants would be required. Investigators also had strong reservations about performing a trial of vaginal breech delivery for other gestational ages. A review of the literature indicates that other authors have encountered difficulty in attempting randomized clinical trials of this nature. CONCLUSIONS: The Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network with its pool of 60,000 deliveries per year agreed that a randomized, controlled delivery route of labor in the 24- to 28-week breech presentation was not feasible in a reasonable period of time. A randomized clinical trial of larger fetuses in a breech presentation was also considered extremely difficult. These findings are similar to those of other authors who have attempted or proposed randomized clinical trials to determine the safety of planned vaginal delivery of the breech presentation at various gestational ages.
OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to study the safety and efficacy of external cephalic version before term (37 weeks' gestation). STUDY DESIGN: We retrospectively reviewed 114 pregnancies in 110 women at 30 to 41 weeks' gestation who had a total of 133 attempts at external cephalic version. RESULTS: Seventy-nine percent of the versions performed before the thirty-seventh week and 53% performed during or after the thirty-seventh week were successful. After adjustment parity and body mass index, a version performed before the thirty-seventh week was 27 times more likely to be successful than if performed during or after the thirty-seventh week. Ninety-nine percent of the successful versions were delivered with a vertex presentation, and of these only 16% required cesarean delivery. CONCLUSION: External cephalic version is safe and successful if performed before 37 weeks' gestation, hence substantially reducing the rate of cesarean section among nonvertex presentations and reducing the risks associated with breech delivery.
OBJECTIVE: The results of a program of external version and selective trial of labor for term breech presentation are reviewed. This is a follow-up to our 1987 report describing management of singleton, term breech presentations and expands our 16-year experience to 1180 cases. STUDY DESIGN: All term breech presentations cared for in 1985 through 1992 are reviewed and outcome contrasted with those predicted in our earlier report. During these 8 years a trial of external version was offered if a breech presentation was identified after 36 completed weeks' gestation and before active labor. The criteria for allowing a trial of labor are detailed. RESULTS: Four hundred sixty-four breech presentations were identified for review. Three hundred eighty-two (82%) were diagnosed before active labor. Of these, 344 (90%) underwent an attempt at external version, of which 174 (51%) were successful. The 290 breech presentations where version either was not attempted or was unsuccessful were stratified into three groups: cesarean section without labor (147), trial of labor with cesarean section (90), and trial of labor with vaginal delivery (53). The 174 cases where version was successful were stratified into two additional groups on the basis of the eventual route of delivery. Careful review of maternal and fetal variables indicates that a trial of labor in selected patients resulted in vaginal delivery in only 37% but was achieved without an increase in fetal or maternal mortality or morbidity. Surprisingly, 54 of the 174 cases where version was successful were ultimately delivered by cesarean section. This 31% rate of cesarean delivery is significantly higher than the 15% rate observed for all cases of term, singleton vertex presentation. A higher prevalence of cases complicated by failed progress in labor and failed induction contributed to the excess. CONCLUSION: External version is successful in 51% of cases of term breech presentation. With careful selection, cases where version has failed can be allowed to labor and be delivered vaginally. The incidence of cesarean section (31%) for those cases where version had been successful was surprisingly high, largely because of an increase in labor abnormalities and failed labor inductions.