Obstructed labour at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia - April 1972 - December 1973
Mphahlele, M.; Van der Meulen, A.J.
South African Medical Journal 49(30): 1204-1206
1975
ISSN/ISBN: 0256-9574 PMID: 1154178 Document Number: 95411
Sixty-three cases of obstructed labour encountered at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia, are analysed for the period April 1972 - December 1973. For the same period there were 27 348 deliveries and 1 432 Caesarean sections. The management of choice was Caesarean section, because of a lack of experienced medical staff and the poor results obtained, together with the serious complications which follow destructive operations before vaginal deliveries. Eighty-five per cent of the babies were delivered alive. There was no maternal death. Twenty-six mothers remained in hospital for longer than 10 days. There was 1 case of a burst abdomen.