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The focus of the third edition of Best Practice in Labour and Delivery is on improvement of technical and non-technical skills, multidisciplinary team working, high quality training and audit with the goal of improving safety and quality of intrapartum care. The editor and authors from a range of international backgrounds have decades of hands-on experience in managing high risk labour wards and promoting both multidisciplinary working and high-quality training. The latest evidence from the Cochrane library and the WHO, NICE and RCOG guidelines have been incorporated into chapters spanning the stages of labour and delivery and the complications that may arise. Chapters also provide practical advice on risk management, triage and prioritisation, and non-technical skills such as leadership and decision making. The well-illustrated book is an essential read for practicing obstetricians, trainees, midwives, neonatologists, anaesthetists and obstetric physicians.
Placental adhesive spectrum disorders (PASD) are on the increase. Histologically, the placenta may be adherent to the myometrium without intervening decidua (acreta), invade the myometrium (increta) and/or extend beyond the myometrium and seen via the serosa of the uterus or invade into adjacent tissues like the bladder or parametrium (percreta). Since there are difficulties in defining each entity by ultrasound or by histology and also due to the possibility of histology showing different degrees of invasion in the same case, PASD is the term now commonly used and the previous terminology of morbidly adherent placenta is no longer used. The main contributor towards PSAD is previous caesarean section (CS). With the global increase in CS, the incidence of PASD and related morbidity and mortality is on the increase.
Caesarean section rates are on the rise and this may be partly due to lack of appropriate training and experience in instrumental deliveries as well as medico-legal issues. Since caesarean section performed in the second stage of labour is associated with increased maternal morbidity, an appropriately performed instrumental vaginal delivery may help avoid the unnecessary risks.
Instrumental vaginal deliveries can be hazardous in inexperienced hands and should be undertaken with due care and supervision. Various intrapartum measures may help reduce the need for assisted vaginal delivery such as use of partogram, upright or lateral maternal position, one-to-one support to the woman in labour, delayed pushing in women having epidural anaesthesia or judicious use of oxytocin in the second stage of labour, especially in women with epidural anaesthesia.