MARCO A. PELOSI, II, MD MARCO A. PELOSI, III, MD Dr. Pelosi II is director and Dr. Pelosi III is associate director, Pelosi Women’s Medical Center, Bayonne, NJ. Dr. Pelosi II also serves on the OBG Management Board of Editors.
Control pain with meperidine (50–75 mg) or morphine (10 mg) parenterally every 3 to 4 hours. Other options include oxycodone and acetaminophen, oxycodone and aspirin, and ibuprofen.
Patients are usually discharged 48 to 72 hours following surgery.
Our experience: The numbers
Using this updated system, we have successfully completed 300 consecutive cesarean sections (210 primary, 90 repeat).
The average operating time was 19 minutes; average blood loss, 405 mL.
There was no postoperative febrile morbidity, wound infection, wound disruption, or wound hematoma.Only 3 patients developed superficial wound seromas, which were easily resolved. There were no intraoperative or postoperative complications.
We attribute the absence of wound infection to routine prophylactic antibiotics; supplemental perioperative oxygen; maintenance of normothermia; use of an electrocautery knife to create rapid hemostatic division of subcutaneous fat and anterior rectus fascia; a simplified abdominal wall opening; and placement of a self-retaining atraumatic retractor.10,32-36
Additional surgical procedures (tubal sterilization, myomectomy, appendectomy, and adhesiolysis) did not alter the recovery period, and all patients were able to get out of bed, shower, breast-feed, and care for their infants within 8 hours of surgery.
No infant complications related to the cesarean procedure occurred.
Patients were discharged from the hospital within 72 hours.
A prospective comparison study demonstrated that the original Pelosi-type of cesarean delivery was faster to perform, more cost-effective, and resulted in less maternal morbidity than the traditional cesarean technique.3
Dr. Pelosi II is a consultant for Apple Medical Corporation. Dr. Pelosi III reports no financial relationships relevant to this article.
