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Objective: Each repeat cesarean section (CS) potentially adds surgical complexity. The determination of appropriate anesthesia strategy to meet the surgical challenge is of crucial importance for the maternal and neonatal outcome. Study design: This prospective cohort study was conducted from 1-Jan-2021 to 31-Dec-2021 at a single large obstetric centre of all repeat CS. We compared the characteristics and the appropriateness of the anesthesia techniques for low-order repeat CS (LOR-CS) (1 or 2 previous CS) and high order repat CS (HOR-CS) group (3 or more repeat CS). Results: During the study period, 1057 parturients met the study entry criteria, with 821 parturients in the LOR-CS group and 236 parturients in the HOR-CS group. The use of spinal anesthesia was more common for HOR-CS 84.3%. Overall surgical time varied between LOR-CS (38 min, 29–49) and HOR-CS (42 min, 31–57) (p = 0.004).The rate of moderate and severe adhesions was relatively high in HOR-CS and the duration of overall surgical time for cases with mild adhesions was 38 min (29–48), for moderate adhesions was 44 min (34.8–56.5), and for severe adhesions was 56 min (44.8–74.3). There was no significant difference in the Estimated Blood Loss (EBL) between LOR-CS and HOR-CS, with values of 653 ± 292 ml vs. 660 ± 285 ml, respectively. Conclusion: Our data indicate that spinal anesthesia, standard monitoring and regular anesthetic setup are safe and suitable for the majority of HOR-CS, except in cases with high suspicion of placental accreta spectrum.

In spite of the recognized occurrence of cesarean-attributable adhesions, its clinical significance is uncertain. The presence of adhesions during a repeat cesarean section can make fetal extraction lengthy and the procedure challenging and may increase the risk of injury to adjacent organs. Two methods for adhesion prevention are discussed, peritoneal closure and use of adhesion barriers. Peritoneal closure appears to be safe in the short term. In the long term, conflicting evidence arise from reviewing the literature for possible adhesion reduction benefits. A systematic review of the literature on the use of adhesion barriers in the context of cesarean section yielded only a few studies, most of which are lacking in methodology. For now, it appears that the available evidence does not support the routine use of adhesion barriers during cesarean delivery., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)