Doctors from the Vienna General Hospital (AKH) have developed a new technique for performing a cesarean section that is less painful and faster than traditional methods. The "cesarean light" takes 20 minutes and has successfully been tested on 1,000 women at the Department of Gynecology at the Vienna AKH over a period of two years.

VIENNA (Reuters Health), January 13, 2003

Professor Elmar Armin Joura of the gynecology department of the Vienna university medical teaching hospital said that women lose half as much blood with the new technique. "We realized that many of the steps involved in the old technique were unnecessary and that a simplification would be beneficial to women," Joura told Reuters Health.

Under the new technique, the abdomen is opened using blunt cutting techniques rather than sharp dissection as with the traditional method. The skin is cut with a knife, but gentle pulling apart is used for all other tissues. The separation takes place at the point of greatest weakness to avoid damaging blood vessels, and so contributes to the reduction of blood loss.

"If the cut is made at the right level, we found that we had wonderful exposure of the lower segment of the uterus," Joura said.

Furthermore, the new technique involves only three continuous layers of stitching, and so uses less material and is faster. Traditional methods, which involved seven layers of stitching, also compromised blood flow and thus the natural healing process. Fewer stitches lead to fewer adhesions in the abdomen, allowing the tissue to heal naturally, Joura said.

Women are also encouraged to drink immediately after the operation because this has been found to improve their bowel function. They also take solid foods within six hours and data has shown that this measure considerably reduces the need for subsequent painkillers. Moreover, they are allowed to get out of a bed within eight hours of the operation.

Joura said that the follow-up data showed that fertility was not compromised and was even better than with the old technique. Papers on the new technique have been published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the AKH has had so many requests for information that it has now produced a video on the subject.

Fifteen percent of all births in Austria now involve a Cesarean section, compared with 10% ten years ago.

Source: Reuters - Health