[Selective caesarean section for breach presentation - bearings on morbidity of survivors neonatal period (author's transl)].

The authors have continued their own analysis of deliveries from breech presentation by studying childhood morbidity of 1,094 single infants who had survived the neonatal period, between 1966 and 1975. Particular attention was given to the impact of selective caesarean section on primiparae, beyond completion of the 36th week of pregnancy. The two reported periods between 1966 and 1971 as well as between 1972 and 1975 were compared for that purpose. -The frequency of caesarean sections went up from 11.6 to 52.2 per cent. Severe parturitional trauma, such as fractures or plexal paralysis, were prevented, but hypoxia was aggravating. No accurate assessment was possible of the full role played by hypoxia and of its importance. A conspicuously high number of children delivered by caesarean section exhibited neurological symptoms, during the first days after birth and even up to the date of leaving hospital. No relationship was found to exist between morbidity and parity. Conclusions with great relevance to practice were drawn from these findings.