Viable pregnancy after prolonged periods of secondary infertility.

Case records of 206 pregnant patients who had not had a viable pregnancy for 10 years or more, are presented. In the antenatal period, 59.7% of patients went through their pregnancy with no complications. The commonest complications were pre-eclampsia and non-proteinuric hypertension. Labour was essentially normal in the majority of cases, and of the 183 patients who were allowed to labour, 171 (93.4%) were delivered vaginally. Caesarean section was performed in 17% of cases, which is 3 times the over-all Caesarean section rate for the hospital during the same period. The indications for Caesarean section are appreciably less restricted in these patients. There was a two-fold increase in the incidence of breech presentation. This may be partly explained by the higher incidence of premature births found in this group of patients. The over-all risk to the infant is increased, mainly because of prematurity, but also owing to a slight increase in the number of congenital abnormalities.