Outcome of term breech presentation

Three hundred and ninety five cases of breech presentation at Harare Maternity Hospital, Harare revealed that caesarean section either electively or in labour resulted in good fetal outcome. Vaginal breech delivery was associated with a perinatal mortality of 74 per 1,000. Fifty four (25%) out of 216 infants delivered vaginally required admission to the Neonatal Unit and thirteen of these had a five minute Apgar Score of 5 or less. Various reasons for this unacceptably high morbidity and mortality are discussed in order to develop a protocol for management of breech presentation in a developing country. The protocol includes the advocation of external cephalic version.