Use Of Episiotomy Surgical Procedure To Facilitate Child Birth Declines

Saturday, January 24, 2015 - 07:50 in Health & Medicine

Between 2006 and 2012 in the U.S., there was a decline in rates of episiotomy, a surgical procedure for widening the outlet of the birth canal to make it easier for the mother to give birth, according to a study in the January 13 issue of JAMA. Episiotomy is a common obstetric procedure, estimated to be performed in 25 percent of vaginal deliveries in the United States in 2004. Restrictive use of episiotomy has been recommended given the risks of the procedure and unclear benefits of routine use. Decreasing use of the procedure was documented in the 1990s; however, whether rates have continued to decrease after evidencebased recommendations has not been known, according to background information in the article. read more

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