Approximately 15% of births in England require the woman to have an episiotomy. Of these, around 25% of women experience a complication called Obstetric Anal Sphincter Injury (OASIS), which causes anal incontinence and which may require reconstructive surgery. Using acute 60 degree angle episiotomy scissors during childbirth reduces the risk of this life changing complication. Preventing these injuries dramatically increases the quality of lives of new mothers who have undergone this procedure and halving litigation costs alone could save the NHS in the region £23.5 million.
Episcissors-60 are an example of a product that may help solve this problem.
External links to FAQs from the manufacturer are here. External links to training videos are here.
Collated evidence is available on the right, courtesy of North East and North Cumbria AHSN.
What does this mean for your hospital?
An annual survey of maternity indicators by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is provided here;
Search for your hospital, navigate to Indicator 6 "Indicators relating to third and fourth degree tears' and add the numbers for primiparous and mulitiparous deliveries to give the number of OASIS injuries per year. Evidence suggests that Episcissors may halve this annual number.
An independent economic evaluation is also under resources (right).
Featured video
Resources
Comparison of obstetric and anal sphincter injuries after introduction of EpiScissors-60
Evaluation of angled EpiScissors episiotomy scissors in spontaneous vaginal deliveries
NICE - EpiScissors60 for guided mediolateral episiotomy
Obstetric and anal sphincter injuries - review of second stage interventions
Series of 53 episiotomies performed with EpiScissors-60