Health Watch is a public service of the Office of News and Publications and is intended to provide general information only and should not replace the advice of a medical professional. You should contact your physician if you have questions about any of these topics.

This week on Health Watch, we've been talking about emergency medical treatments that can help save lives when seconds count. In some situations, there may be more than one life at stake. Emergency Caesarian deliveries may need to be performed when the life of the mother or baby is at stake. The usual guideline is that this delivery must be performed within 30 minutes. Dr. Steven Bloom, interim chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, says a doctor's judgment is as important as any guideline in the outcome of a Caesarian delivery.

UT Southwestern researchers looked at outcomes for emergency Caesarian deliveries. In life-threatening situations, almost all deliveries were performed in less than 30 minutes. But in less critical situations when the deliveries happened after 30 minutes, the outcomes for mothers and babies were similar to those performed within half an hour.

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July 2006

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