“MANAGEMENT OF WOUND COMPLICATIONS FOLLOWING OBSTETRIC ANAL SPHINCTER INJURY (OASIS)”
ROBERT L. BARBIERI, MD, AND JEANNINE M. MIRANNE, MD, MS (EDITORIAL; DECEMBER 2016)
Delivering clinician should be seated
Indeed, obstetric anal sphincter injuries (OASIS),1 with their short- and long-term consequences, merit clinical attention, as spotlighted in Dr. Barbieri and Dr. Miranne’s article. An issue not discussed is the position of the obstetrician.
In our practice, we sit down to perform a vaginal delivery, as taught by Soranus of Ephesus.2 We strive to be at the bedside sooner than when the nurse calls “she is crowning.” This allows communication with the woman, attending nurse, and support person(s), as well as for a brief review of recent estimated fetal weight, length of the second stage, position of the presenting part, degree of flexion, presence of caput, and other last-minute details. Sitting down in front of the outlet permits uninterrupted visual evaluation of the distention of the soft perineal tissues. All traditional maneuvers are performed comfortably from the sitting position: the vertex is controlled by hands-on, and a quick reach with the nonpredominant hand searches for a loop of cord or a small part procidentia to resolve it. The patient is coached either for the next bearing-down effort or to not push to allow for gradual, controlled delivery of the fetal shoulder girdle. We avoid use of the fetal head for traction and move to facilitate “shrugging” with reduction of the bisacromial to facilitate delivery.
In our experience, the sitting position is ideal to observe uninterruptedly the tension of the perineal body during vertex and shoulders delivery, without having to flex and rotate our back and neck in repeatedly nonergonomic positions.
If an obstetrician of above-average height stands for the delivery, the obstetric bed should be elevated to fit her or his reach. Should shoulder dystocia occur, an assistant will stand on a chair and hover over the maternal abdomen to provide suprapubic pressure (indeed, an indelible memory for any parturient and her family). From the sitting position, exploration of the birth canal and repair of any injury, if necessary, can be conducted without technical impediments.
These simple steps have provided our patients and ourselves with clinical and professional satisfaction with minimal OASIS events as shown by others.3 Ironically, if we successfully avoid perineal injuries, our young trainees may require simulation training to learn this tedious repair procedure. In our geographic practice area, a new “collaborative” expects the frequency of episiotomy to be less than 4.6%. Third- and 4th-degree spontaneous or procedure-related perineal injuries still are used to measure quality of care despite demonstrated reasons for this parameter to be a noncredible metric.
Federico G. Mariona, MD
Dearborn, Michigan
Dr. Barbieri responds
I agree with Dr. Mariona that in some cases the fetal head delivers without causing a 3rd- or 4th-degree laceration, but then the delivery of the posterior shoulder causes a severe perineal injury. Dr. Mariona’s clinical pearl is that the delivering clinician should be seated, carefully observe the delivery of the shoulders, and facilitate fetal shrugging by gently reducing the bisacromial diameter as the posterior shoulder transitions over the perineal body.
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