The Association of Cesarean Skin Incision Length and Postoperative Wound Complications

Document Type : Original Article

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Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

Background: Many factors affect the risk of wound com-plications after Cesarean delivery. Not much research was done on skin incision length and whether it affects wound healing. Understanding the several factors affecting wound healing may help decrease the maternal mortality rate after Cesarean delivery and avoid the occurrence of different wound complications.   
Objective: Evaluation of the relationship between ce-sarean skin incision length and different post-operative wound complications.   
Methods: This prospective observational study includ-ed 130 women scheduled for Cesarean delivery in Ain Shams University maternity hospital. The skin incision length was measured for all patients who passed the in-clusion criteria. Follow-up was done after two weeks and up to six weeks after delivery to observe possible wound complications. Data was collected, and the results were analyzed. Post-operative pain was assessed for its associ-ation with skin incision size as a secondary outcome. 
Results: The population was divided into two groups. In the group with an incisional length ≤17 cm, the rates of infection, separation/dehiscence, seroma/hematoma, and local cellulitis are 9.5%, 5.4%, 1.4%, and 8.1%, respec-tively. In contrast, in the group with an incisional length >17 cm, the rates are higher for all complications: 19.6%, 23.2%, 16.1%, and 26.8%, respectively. The statistical test reveals a significantly higher occurrence of separa-tion/dehiscence, seroma/hematoma, and local cellulitis in the larger incisional length group.
Conclusion: Large Cesarean skin incision length was as-sociated with an increased risk of post-operative wound complications.

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