[The prevention of vascular complications after caesarean section. A study of more than 2 000 caesarean operations carried out in one year (1978) in the hospital centres of the West (author's transl)].

An enquiry was carried out to analyse vascular accidents (thrombo-emboli and haemorrhages) in the immediate post-operative period in more than 2,000 Caesarean operations which were carried out in 1978 in 15 hospital departments in the West of France, and this allowed the reporters to point out the factors that predispose to such accidents occurring. Among these factors were the family history and the patient's own cardiovascular history, the profile of the patient (an age above 35, obesity, high parity and associated pathology of pregnancy), prolonged rest in bed before the operation, the conditions under which the Caesarean operations were carried out and the risks of post-operative infection. These seem to indicate that anticoagulants should be used as a preventive measure but not routinely. In fact, in the series that used anticoagulant medication too freely, there was a definitely increased risk of haemorrhage, while the incidence of thrombo-embolic complications seemed to be greater when anticoagulants were prescribed without systematically grading the quantities given. The least number of such accidents were found when preventive measures were carried out with a good control of the effects of the treatments.