[Labor and delivery, fetal and maternal risk following cerclage. A comparative study (author's transl)].

In a comparative study of the course of pregnancy and delivery of 357 patients who delivered live infants between 1966-1976 following cerclage operation were compared to a control group of 380 without cerclage who were matched in age, parity and delivery time to the group under study. The high prematurity rate in the pregnancies preceeding the cerclage of 28.4% decreased following the cerclage to 16.8% (p less than 0.001). The perinatal mortality was reduced from 21.5% to 5.6% (p less than 0.001). This effect was especially achieved by the lower incidence of deliveries of infants with a birth weight of less than 1500 grams (p less than 0.05). The difference to the controls regarding prematurity (8.2%) and perinatal mortality (1.6%) remained significant (p less than 0.001). An increased rate of malformations in the cerclage children was not noticed. The maternal risk is low and consists mainly of a increase of cervical lacerations (4.9%) and problems of wound healing (2.2%). The duration of labor and type of delivery, the type of third stage of labor, and the post-partum course were not different from the control group.