Objectives: To determine efficacy and safety of assisted third stage of labor using intraumbilical oxytocin or either expectant or routinary. Design: Clinical controlled trial. Location: Hospital Vitarte, Ministerio de Salud, Lima Peru. Participants: Women in third stage of labor. Interventions: One hundred and eighty laboring women were randomized by systematic sampling when admitted for hospitalization. Three ways of third stage of labor management were compared: a) assisted, using intraumbilical oxytocin; b) expectant with partial clamping of the umbilical cord (by clamping only the fetal end of the umbilical cord); and c) routinary or expectant with double clamping of the umbilical cord. 60 pregnant women were randomized to each group. Main outcome measures: Duration of the third stage of labor, prepartum and 24 hours postpartum hematocrit, complications. Results: There w...

Objectives: To determine efficacy and safety of assisted third stage of labor using intraumbilical oxytocin or either expectant or routinary. Design: Clinical controlled trial. Location: Hospital Vitarte, Ministerio de Salud, Lima Peru. Participants: Women in third stage of labor. Interventions: One hundred and eighty laboring women were randomized by systematic sampling when admitted for hospitalization. Three ways of third stage of labor management were compared: a) assisted, using intraumbilical oxytocin; b) expectant with partial clamping of the umbilical cord (by clamping only the fetal end of the umbilical cord); and c) routinary or expectant with double clamping of the umbilical cord. 60 pregnant women were randomized to each group. Main outcome measures: Duration of the third stage of labor, prepartum and 24 hours postpartum hematocrit, complications. Results: There w...