[Vaginal cesarean delivery in modern obstetric practice]

To report the experience of our unit with vaginal cesarean deliveries.

This is a retrospective, descriptive study of seven vaginal cesarean deliveries performed in the maternity unit of the Centre Hospitalier Regional Universitaire de Saint-Louis in Senegal during the third quarter of 2012. The women's clinical characteristics were studied and indications for cesarean sections discussed.

The seven vaginal cesareans accounted for 3.2% of the cesarean deliveries performed during the study period (219) and 0.6% of all births (1428). The women's average age was 31 years. Gestational age ranged from 17 to 34 weeks of gestation. The principal indication for surgery was placental abruption, in 5 (72%) cases). The fetus was dead in 4 of the 7 cases. The mean 5-min Apgar score at birth for the liveborn infants was 5 (of an optimum score of 10). Mean fetal weight at birth was 1700 g. The mean operative time was 20.7 minutes. In one case, the incision extended to the uterine corpus. The postoperative course was uneventful in all cases.

Vaginal cesarean is safe, fast, but not without complications. It requires perfect mastery of vaginal surgery.