[External cephalic version in cases of breech presentation: renaissance of a well-known procedure?]

About 3-4% of all pregnant women will have a fetus presenting by the breech at term. External cephalic version offers the opportunity to reduce the rate of caesarean sections caused by breech presentation. We analysed retrospectively 51 cases of external cephalic version at our clinic.

External cephalic version was performed 51 times between 37 and 41 weeks of pregnancy.

External cephalic version was successful in 32/51 cases (62,7%) with a consecutive rate of vaginal delivery of 71,9%. The best results were seen at 37 weeks of pregnancy with 81,25% of successful versions followed by 76,9% of vaginal deliveries. Complications were rare. There was just 1 case of emergency caesarean section due to persisting fetal bradycardia.

External cephalic version is an effective and safe treatment to enable vaginal delivery of cephalic presentation. For this operation, 37 weeks of pregnancy can be considered the best time.