Vaginal Birth after Cesarean Delivery: Results in 310 Pregnancies

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Abstract
Objective: To assess and compare the risk associated with a trial of vaginal birth after cesarean section (VBAC) with the risk of an elective repeat cesarean section.Methods:A retrospective review of the records of 310 consecutive women who, at the Jichi Medical School Hospital in the 6‐year period of 1990 through 1995, had previously undergone a primary cesarean section and gave birth to a singleton infant weighing ≥ 2,000 g at ≥ 36 weeks of gestation in a subsequent pregnancy.Results:Elective cesarean sections were performed on 96 (31%) of 310 women, and VBACs were attempted by 214 women (69%). Vaginal deliveries were successful in 132 (43%) of the 310 pregnancies. No maternal deaths or perinatal deaths occurred in either group. A uterine rupture occurred in 2 (0.9%) of the 214 women who attempted a VBAC, and 5 women (2.3%) gave birth to neonates with a 1‐minute Apgar score ≤ 6. None of the 96 women who underwent an elective cesarean section had such complications, although the difference in these complication rates did not reach a significant level.Conclusions: A trial of a VBAC significantly reduced the rate of cesarean sections. Although the rates of uterine rupture and neonatal asphyxia were slightly higher in women who attempted a VBAC than in women who underwent an elective cesarean section, obstetricians should offer the option of a trial of labor, because more than one‐half of the women with a previous cesarean delivery might have successful vaginal deliveries, and the VBAC‐related maternal mortality rate does not reportedly differ between women undergoing a trial of labor and women undergoing an elective repeat cesarean section.

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