Cervical lacerations: A case series

Abstract

Cervical laceration (CL) after vaginal delivery is one of the uncommon side effects with significant morbidity if undetected and unattended to promptly. This is however one of the common causes for postpartum haemorrhage. There are several documented risk factors for CL such as previous interventions on the cervix, induction of labour, use of Prostaglandins for induction, precipitate labour, operative vaginal deliveries and birth weight of more than 3500gm.In this article we have described a series of eleven women who were detected to have CL following vaginal delivery. One of whom had delivery of the baby through a bucket handle cervical tear with a non-dilated cervical os. Almost all of them needed multiple blood and product transfusions in view of postpartum haemorrhage with one of them developing acute kidney injury subsequently. This necessitates the need for prompt identification of CL and its needed intervention.