Perinatal outcomes after undergoing external cephalic version

Abstract

The external cephalic version (ECV) represents the standard for pregnancies at term with a non-cephalic presentation as it avoids planned caesareans. The aim of this study was to assess the caesarean rate and prognostic factors at birth after undergoing ECV, which was compared with scheduled caesareans for a non-cephalic presentation (SCG) and spontaneous cephalic presentations at birth (GG). No difference was observed between the caesarean rate of the ECV (n=65) and the GG (n=3711) groups (9.84% and 14.47%, respectively, p-value=0.30), and neither was found between the ECV group and both the GG and SCG (n=76) groups in the Apgar scores and postpartum pH, but for the five-minute Apgar score (9.98 and 9.84 in the ECV and SCG groups, respectively, p-value=0.04). This study provides further evidence for clinical practice regarding good perinatal outcomes after undergoing ECV. Further research is required to consistently prove the increase in the intrapartum caesarean rate after ECV that has been previously described in the literature, which has not been found in the present study