Retrospective study of maternal and perinatal outcomes of instrumental vaginal deliveries in a tertiary care hospital

Background: An instrumental delivery includes vacuum assisted delivery and obstetric forceps delivery, which is used to cut short the second stage of labour. In modern obstetric practice, there is increased rate of cesarean section worldwide. In India, incidence of operative vaginal deliveries (OVDs) varies between 2.5-5%. A successful instrumental delivery decreases the possibility of cesarean section and its morbidity and its implications for future pregnancy. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in our tertiary care hospital, in department of Obstetrics and Gynecology from May 2022 to April 2024. All pregnant females with full term singleton pregnancy with cephalic presentation were included in this study. In this study, we studied indications, requirement of type of OVDs, maternal and perinatal outcomes. Results: In our study, incidence of instrumental deliveries was 4.25%. Use of instrumental delivery was more common in primigravida and most common indication was prolonged second stage of labour. Most common maternal morbidity was extension of episiotomy and fetal morbidity was birth asphyxia. 6 babies needed NICU admission. Few babies had low APGAR score at 1 and 5 minutes. Conclusions: Instrumental delivery has found to be safe and it is the best option to cesarean delivery.