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Updated: Jun 4, 2026

Laparoscopic Extracorporeal Knot-Tying for Uterine Vessel Occlusion during Hysterectomy with Cervical Cerclage in Large Uteri
Published on: September 12, 2025
Characteristics associated with severe perineal and cervical lacerations during vaginal delivery
Helain J Landy1, S Katherine Laughon, Jennifer L Bailit
1From the Georgetown University Hospital, MedStar Health, Washington, DC; the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland; MetroHealth Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio; Indiana University Clarian Health, Indianapolis, Indiana; University of Miami, Miami, Florida; University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas; Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York; University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Intermountain Healthcare and the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah; Tufts University, Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Massachusetts; Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California; Christiana Care Health System, Newark, Delaware; Summa Health Systems, Akron City Hospital, Akron, Ohio; and the EMMES Corporation, Rockville, Maryland.
Objective:
To characterize potentially modifiable risk factors for third- or fourth-degree perineal lacerations and cervical lacerations in a contemporary U.S. obstetric practice.
Methods:
The Consortium on Safe Labor collected electronic medical records from 19 hospitals within 12 institutions (228,668 deliveries from 2002 to 2008). Information on patient characteristics, prenatal complications, labor and delivery data, and maternal and neonatal outcomes were collected. Only women with successful vaginal deliveries of cephalic singletons at 34 weeks of gestation or later were included; we excluded data from sites lacking information about lacerations at delivery and deliveries complicated by shoulder dystocia; 87,267 and 71,170 women were analyzed for third- or fourth-degree and cervical lacerations, respectively. Multivariable logistic regressions were used to adjust for other factors.
Results:
Third- or fourth-degree lacerations occurred in 2,516 women (2,223 nulliparous [5.8%], 293 [0.6%] multiparous) and cervical lacerations occurred in 536 women (324 nulliparous [1.1%], 212 multiparous [0.5%]). Risks for third- or fourth-degree lacerations included nulliparity (7.2-fold risk), being Asian or Pacific Islander, increasing birth weight, operative vaginal delivery, episiotomy, and longer second stage of labor. Increasing body mass index was associated with fewer lacerations. Risk factors for cervical lacerations included young maternal age, vacuum vaginal delivery, and oxytocin use among multiparous women, and cerclage regardless of parity.
Conclusion:
Our large cohort of women with severe obstetric lacerations reflects contemporary obstetric practices. Nulliparity and episiotomy use are important risk factors for third- or fourth-degree lacerations. Cerclage increases the risk for cervical lacerations. Many identified risk factors may not be modifiable.
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