Title: Analysis of Postoperative Morbidity Following Caesarean Sections in a Tertiary Care Centre
Authors: Dr Deepa M, Dr Sapna Devi. D P, Dr Y Sujatha
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v5i2.51
Abstract
Background: Caesarean section is one of the most commonly performed surgeries. Before the availability of wide spectrum antibiotics, blood transfusion facilities and anesthetic techniques, it was done only to save the life of the mother and was met with a mortality of 50-75%. Now with the advent of antibiotics, blood transfusion and modern anesthetic technique, morbidity has been considerably reduced. In spite of this, delivery by Caesarean section is fraught with high incidence of maternal morbidity. Thus in orderto have minimum mortality and morbidity following Caesarean sections, the obstetrician should have a knowledge about the common morbidity following the procedure.
Objectives of the study
1. To identify the common postoperative morbidity following Caesarean sections.
2. To compare the morbidity following elective and emergency Caesarean sections.
Study Setting and Design
The design adopted is cross sectional comparative study.200 Caesarean section cases done in Sree Avittam Thirunal Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram were allocated and grouped into two of which 100 patients underwent elective surgery and 100 patients underwent emergency Caesarean section .
Results: Data collected was analyzed based on the objective using frequency, percent and Chi-square tests.
Conclusion: In the present study, the most frequent postoperative complications are urinary retention, febrile morbidity, postpartum hemorrhage and gaseous abdominal distension.
The postoperative complications are more in emergency group (58%) as against 23% in the elective group. Most frequent complications are fever (28% in emergency and 10% in the elective group), urinary retention (12% in emergency and 5% in elective group) and postpartum hemorrhage (6% in emergency and 4% in elective group). Infectious morbidity following emergency Caesarean section is 32% and elective Caesarean section is 15%.
It is seen that in spite of routine use of antibiotics, good anesthetic and operative techniques and blood bank facilities, Caesarean sections are still associated with considerable postoperative morbidity. Also the postoperative morbidity is more following emergency caesareans compared to elective cases.
Keywords- Caesarean section, postoperative, morbidity.
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