ABSTRACT
There is ample documentation that breech full-term infants delivered vaginally have
a higher perinaial morbidity and mortality rate than breech infants born via cesarean
section. Until now, little emphasis has been placed on the risks to premature newborns
born in breech presentation. Therefore, the authors have considered all singleton
pregnancies with infants in breech presentation admitted to the Department of Obstetrics,
University of Padova, from January 1978 to December 1979 and delivered before 36-weeks
gestation.
On the basis of obstetric management, the authors have obtained two groups: Group
A comprised 36 infants born by vaginal delivery; Group B totaled 32 newborns delivered
by cesarean section. Mean gestational age and birthweight were comparable. Of the
neonatal events considered, the following were significantly different: Apgar score
at 5 minutes <7 (A = 30.6%; B = 9.3%), mortality (A = 13.8%; B = 0), neurologic sequelae
in the infants discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) (A = 50%; B
= 9.1%) and the sum of mortality and long term sequelae (A = 22.2%; B = 3.1%).
The authors conclude that cesarean section performed in mothers with impending preterm
breech delivery decreases the neonatal mortality rate and improves the long-term outcome.
1 Presented in part at the VIII European Conference of Pernatal Medicine, Bruxelles,
Belgium, Sept. 1982
