Intrinsic hazard of breech presentation

Abstract

Because perinatal mortality is higher with vaginal breech delivery elective caesarean section has been advocated for both term and preterm deliveries. Nevertheless, the widespread practice of caesarean section for breech delivery at term has recently been questioned. The dangers of caesarean section are mostly to the mother, but it may sometimes be dangerous for the fetus - particularly a preterm fetus when labour is far advanced. To assess how much neonatal depression after caesarean section is associated with breech presentation, we retrospectively studied the outcome of elective caesarean section at term when the fetus presented by the breech compared with the outcome when the presentation was cephalic.