Timing of antibiotics important in reducing infections after C-section
Giving antibiotics before cesarean section surgery rather than just after the newborn’s umbilical cord is clamped cuts the infection rate at the surgical site in half, according to infection disease specialist David K. Warren, MD, and his colleagues at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
Link between fetal heart rate and brain damage focus of grant
School of Medicine researchers have received a five-year, $3.5 million grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to better understand the link between fetal heart decreases during labor and brain damage to newborns. The scientists will compare fetal heart rate patterns to neonatal outcomes in 7,000 term deliveries.
Reducing repeat cesareans
George Macones, MD, the Mitchell and Elaine Yanow Professor and head of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine, conducted one of two large observational studies of women who try to give birth vaginally after a prior cesarean section. The study showed the rates of the previous uterine incision breaking open were less than 1 percent.