Manual removal of the placenta and postcesarean endometritis.

OBJECTIVE

To determine if manual vs. spontaneous delivery of the placenta at cesarean section affects the rate of postoperative endometritis and amount of blood loss.

STUDY DESIGN

A prospective, randomized study was carried out on patients who had cesarean delivery assigned either to spontaneous delivery of the placenta (group 1) or manual removal (group 2). We excluded patients undergoing emergency cesareans and those with possible placenta accreta or evidence of preexisting infection. Outcome measures (frequency of endometritis and quantitative decrease in hemoglobin) were compared for the two groups.

RESULTS

Study criteria were met for 375 subjects: 177 in group 1 and 198 in group 2. Endometritis was diagnosed in 1.7% of the former and 2.5% of the latter. The change in hemoglobin, reflecting operative blood loss, was similar in both groups (-1.81 and -1.72 g/dL, respectively).

CONCLUSION

We found no significant difference in either postoperative endometritis or blood loss regardless of the means used to effect delivery of the placenta. The frequency of febrile morbidity in our study cases was considerably lower than heretofore reported.