The complications of external cephalic version: results from 805 consecutive attempts

Most breech babies at term are now delivered by caesarean section. Although external cephalic version reduces the number of term breech presentations, its uptake has not been as wide as is recommended by professional bodies. This may be because of fears over safety. Pooled safety data do exist, largely from case series. However, the possibility of reporting and publication biases in such studies maybe preventing both women and obstetricians from being adequately reassured. In this series of 805 consecutive version attempts, we report an extremely low complication rate and 0.5% risk of emergency caesarean section after the procedure.