Sheffield modified technique for external cephalic version

Summary

External cephalic version (ECV) is the manipulation of the fetus, through the maternal abdomen, to a cephalic presentation. The incidence of caesarean section for breech presentation has increased markedly in the last 20 years. External version has become more popular in the past 10 years because of the increasing evidence of risks from vaginal breech delivery, increasing demand on the reduction of caesarean sections, a strong safety record, and high success rate of ECV of up to 80%. The use of external cephalic version can produce considerable cost savings in the management of the breech presentation at term; however, there is a wide variation in the success rate, with a range between 30–80%. The ECV technique has remained unchanged for many generations without any modification. This paper provides the outcome of a small prospective study implementing a modified technique for ECV, which has a high success rate.

Keywords:

• Breech presentation
• external cephalic version