[Cicatricial uteri. Vaginal delivery under peridural analgesia]

The results of 108 attempts to deliver women who had previously had caesarean sections vaginally under epidural analgesia are studied. 94 patients (87%) delivered vaginally taking the usual length of time for dilatation and delivery. These confirm that epidural analgesia does not alter the prognosis for this type of delivery. However, one uterus unfortunately ruptured with the rapid death of the baby. This study makes it possible to define certain rules that should be carried out to lessen or even get rid completely of the risk of these accidents. As far as the anaesthetic is concerned, epidural analgesia should be carried out and watched very carefully. Small doses of anesthetics should be used and those in low concentrations. Symmetry analgesia should be good. Medics should be aware of the cumulative effect of adding dose on dose. Finally, morphine or morphine-like substances should either be used carefully or forbidden altogether. These precautions will limit the quantities of epidural analgesics that are delivered and assure that there is symmetry so that it is easier to recognize the signs before rupture of the uterus. As far as the obstetrical side is concerned, although we did not use oxytocics very often (37%) we did not find that there was any risk attached to it. We recommend, however, that internal monitoring should be carried out very often whether oxytocics are used or not. Routinely, instruments should be used for the delivery to lessen the efforts required to expel the baby. Exploring the cavity of the uterus after the delivery does not seem to us to be necessary unless there are the usual obstetric indications for doing this.