Instruments for assisted vaginal birth

CONCLUSIONS: This review provides low-certainty evidence that forceps may be more likely to achieve vaginal birth and have lower rates of fetal trauma, but at a greater risk of perineal trauma and higher pain relief requirements compared with vacuum cups. There was low-certainty evidence that rigid vacuum cups may be more likely to achieve a vaginal birth than soft cups but with more fetal trauma, whilst handheld vacuum cups had similar success rates compared to other cups. There was no evidence of a difference in the rates of third- or fourth-degree tears or postpartum haemorrhages between types of cups, but wide confidence intervals around the estimates indicate further research is needed in this area.PMID:34559884 | DOI:10.1002/14651858.CD005455.pub3

Source: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews - September 24, 2021 Category: General Medicine Authors: Ganga L Verma Jessica J Spalding Marc D Wilkinson G Justus Hofmeyr Valerie Vannevel Fidelma O'Mahony Source Type: research