Placental Removal Method And Uterine Massage On Preventing Postpartum Hemorrhage

Postpartum hemorrhage is the leading cause of maternal deaths in all over the world, especially in developing and underdeveloped countries. Medical and surgical methods exist for management of bleeding. There are two surgical techniques for removal of the placenta on cesarean delivery, which are called manual removal and controlled cord traction. In manual removal group, the duration of surgery time might be shorter theoretically. Nevertheless, there are studies showing that manual removal of the placenta may increase postpartum endometritis and postpartum hemorrhage. The optimal method for removal of the placenta during the cesarean delivery remains uncertain (1). It is a known fact that uterine massage after vaginal birth lowers the risk of postpartum hemorrhage (2) However, there is no study on how effective uterine massage is during cesarean delivery. In 2018, Saccone and colleagues wanted to publish a meta-analysis on the role of uterine massage in reducing postpartum bleeding during cesarean delivery, but when they examined the literature on the subject, they could not find a study which included only the group that gave birth by cesarean section and was free from bias. In the same publication, it was mentioned that it was necessary to investigate the effectiveness of uterine massage, which is a cost-free method that can reduce maternal morbidity in underdeveloped countries where maternal deaths due to postpartum bleeding are high, in cesarean section. (3)