A study to evaluate the effectiveness of simple technique of placental drainage in control of third stage blood loss

Abstract

Background: Postpartum hemorrhage is the most common and dreaded complication of third stage of labor. Third stage of labour is always a time of anxiety as the normal case can within a minute become abnormal and successful delivery can swiftly turn into a maternal mortality. India has a maternal mortality rate of 4/1000 live births, whereas it is 0.1 – 0.4 / 1000 live birth in developed countries. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of simple technique of placental drainage in control of third stage blood loss Methods: A hospital based randomized controlled trial was conducted among 500 women during third stage of labour. They were divided into study and control groups. The study group was one in whom, cord clamping was not done the natural drainage of placenta was allowed, whereas, in the control group, cord clamping was performed. The outcome was assessed by measuring the mean duration of third stage of labour and the complications. Results: Women characteristics were similar for both the study group and the control group both for primigravida and multigravida. The obstetric characteristics like epidural anesthesia, and duration of first and second stage of labour was similar in both the study and control group. But the duration of third stage labour was prolonged in control group where cord was clamped compared to study group for primigravida and multigravida both. The numbers of cases with complications are more in the control group than study group. Conclusion: The mean duration of third stage labour was significantly lesser in placental drainage group compared to cord clamp group. Also the complications were less in the placental drainage group. Thus it can be concluded that the placental drainage is more effective than the cord clamp method.

Keywords

• postpartum hemorrhage
• third stage labour
• placental drainage