Patient satisfaction with childbirth after external cephalic version

To assess acceptance and impact of external cephalic version (ECV) for breech presentation at term on maternal satisfaction with childbirth.

Retrospective study on n = 131 women with breech presentation comparing maternal satisfaction after ECV and consecutive childbirth (n = 66; 50.4% of these successful attempts in n = 33; 50%) against the group without ECV and primary caesarean section (CS) (n = 65; 49.6%) instead using a questionnaire.

Women with successful ECV tolerated side effects of the intervention better than after unsuccessful ECV (pain, tocolytics, mental and physical state, for all p < 0.001). They were not more satisfied with childbirth than women who experienced an unsuccessful ECV (p = 0.37). However, they would undergo the procedure again (p = 0.003) and would recommend it to other women (p < 0.001). Only women with spontaneous vaginal deliveries after successful version were more satisfied with childbirth than women with planned CS (p = 0.05). Women with version attempts tend to perceive childbirth as being less problematic with fewer complications (9.5 vs. 19%, p = 0.12). Unsuccessful ECVs had no negative impact on satisfaction with childbirth (p = 0.072).

Attempting ECV seems to be an option for increasing the rate of vaginal births with breech presentation without negative impact on maternal satisfaction regarding consecutive childbirth.