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Surgery => Obstetrics => Cesarean Section
Cesarean Section
Cesarean Section, surgical removal of the fetus through incisions in the abdominal wall and the uterus. This operation has been practiced since ancient times on dead and, probably, dying mothers to save the life of the fetus. According to tradition, Roman statesman Julius Caesar was born by this method, hence its name. Roman law, however, restricted the operation to women who died before childbirth, and as Caesar's mother lived long after he was born, the tradition is probably false. The first authenticated case of a cesarean section on a living woman occurred in 1610. Because of the high mortality risk, this operation did not become widespread until the end of the 19th century, when increased use of antiseptics and advances in surgical techniques made it less dangerous.
In present-day obstetrics a cesarean section is performed for cases in which the size of the birth canal is too small to allow the fetus to pass. The operation also is used in cases of abnormal developments during delivery, such as hemorrhage or tumors in the mother, failure of the cervix to dilate, fetal distress (lack of oxygen), or difficult positioning of the fetus. The number of cesarean deliveries increased during the 1970s until in 1989 they accounted for almost one in every four births. Then new evidence indicated that not all these operations were needed. For instance, it was believed that a woman who had had one cesarean delivery always needed to have subsequent children this way or her scars would rupture, but this proved not to be an important risk. Because even a modern surgical delivery carries a threefold higher risk of death for the mother, obstetricians are being encouraged to decrease the number of cesarean births.
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