Higher drug dose would reduce caesarean bleeding

RECEIVING a higher dose of a drug that helps the womb contract would reduce the need for women whose babies are delivered by caesarean section to receive additional drugs to prevent major blood loss, a study has found.

The study, the largest of its kind involving maternity patients in Ireland, concluded that obstetricians with less than 10 years’ experience should routinely give higher doses of oxytocin to women undergoing planned caesareans to reduce blood loss.

All women are given a small injection of oxytocin after a caesarean to help the placenta separate and the womb contract to its normal size, said Professor Deirdre Murphy, one of the study’s lead authors.