Trial of Labor After 3 or More Previous Cesarean Sections

In 2006, the vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) rate was 8.5%, compared to a rate of 28.3% in 1996. This was also associated with a rise in the rate of cesarean section from approximately 20% to 31.1% over that same period of time. In that 10 year period, some hospitals stopped offering a trial of labor after cesarean (TOLAC) altogether.

Currently, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists states in Practice Bulletin 115 (2010), Vaginal Birth After Previous Cesarean Delivery, "it is reasonable to consider women with 2 previous low transverse cesarean deliveries to be candidates for TOLAC...Data regarding the risk for women undergoing TOLAC with more than two previous cesarean deliveries is limited."

In 1994, a study reviewing10 years of data regarding trial of labor after cesarean. Of their population with 3 or more previous cesarean deliveries, 30% of patients underwent a trial of labor, with a 79% success rate. In this group, the uterine rupture rate was 1.2% with zero perinatal deaths related to rupture, which is compared to a rupture rate of 1.8% and 1 perinatal death in the group of 2 previous cesarean deliveries.

In 2002, another study described the outcomes of women who underwent a trial of labor after 2 or more previous cesarean deliveries at two large university hospitals in the Netherlands, but it included just 59 patients total and only 4 of these had 3 previous cesarean deliveries. No patients with more than 3 previous cesarean deliveries had a trial of labor.

A study in 2010, described a large cohort of women from the northeastern United States with 3 or more previous cesarean deliveries, including those attempting VBAC. This cohort included 89 women, of whom 79.8% had a successful VBAC. However, of the women who had a TOLAC, 40.4% delivered in a university hospital and only 18.0% in a hospital with an OB/GYN residency, compared to 56.9% and 25.4% of women who had an elective repeat cesarean section. In the group that had a TOLAC, there were no cases of uterine rupture.