Latent Phase Membrane Stripping for Caesarean Section Reduction

There is a need to find non-pharmacological interventions that can speed up delivery to prevent maternal complications and reduce the number of caesarean sections.

Maternal mortality remains one of the biggest health problems worldwide. Every day, around 830 women die worldwide from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth. In 2015, an estimated 303,000 women died during pregnancy and childbirth or after. Most of these deaths occur in low-income countries and most of them could have been prevented. The maternal mortality rate in Latin American and Caribbean countries, calculated by the Inter-Agency Group (MMEIG), shows a significant decrease as a regional average in recent years, from 88 per 100,000 live births in 2005 to 67 per 100,000 live births in 2015.

At the Escuela Hospital, the availability of beds and admission criteria in the intensive care unit (ICU) are not the same. The use of this marker is questionable, since it is affected by the level of complexity of the care provided to a health setting and the organization of obstetric care. We found in our study a cesarean section rate (almost 63.2%), with no significant variation by different criteria. This finding is consistent with that reported by Nelissen et al. Due to the severity of the obstetric conditions of these patients, their pregnancy usually requires urgent action. Although cesarean section is associated with high rates of maternal morbidity and mortality compared to vaginal delivery, when clinically indicated, timely termination of pregnancy can reduce the risk of maternal-fetal death.

Based on the above, this research proposes the importance of finding strategies to reduce the rate of cesarean deliveries and thus counteract the high rates of maternal morbidity and mortality. For this reason, this research is aimed at reducing the latent phase of labor through the use of the Hamilton maneuver.