Comparison of Operative Time, Postoperative Pain, and Blood Loss Between Electrocautery and Scalpel for Abdominal Incisions in Repeat Cesarean Sections
1Dr Nazia Suleman, 2Kainat Fatima, 2Sonia Khan, 2Rahat Toqeer, 2Rizwan Aziz, 2Mobeen Ali
1AP Abu Umara Medical & Dental College, Lahore
2Mayo Hospital Lahore
Vol 15-03, 171-187
Submission: 12 May 2025 | Acceptance: 30 July 2025 | Publication: 28 October 2025
ABSTRACT
Introduction: There are many techniques of performing Caesarian section and each has its own advantages and disadvantages. The skin incision may be vertical, midline, Para median and the most common being pfannensteil incision. Electrocautery is an alternate method to open the skin by the use of an alternating current through tissue resistance to raise tissue temperature to achieve protein coagulation. Objectives: To compare the mean operative time, post-operative pain and blood loss. Materials & Methods: Total 100 women with singleton pregnancy (assessed on USG) of gestational age 37-41 weeks (assessed by LMP) undergoing cesarean section of 18-45 years of age were selected. Women with GDM, Primigravida, hepatic or renal impairment were excluded. Group A included women who had incision with electrocautry. Group B included women who had incision with scalpel. All operations in both groups were done by myself pg4 resident and operative time, post-operative pain and blood loss was measured. electrocautery verses scalpel in repeat caesarian sections for abdominal incisions. Study design was Randomized controlled trial. Settings were in Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, PIMS Hospital, Islamabad. Study duration was 30th June 2020 to 29th December 2020. Results: In my study, the mean operative time in Group A (diathermy group) was 66.92 ± 7.39 minutes while in Group B (scalpel group) was 86.98 ± 5.84 minutes (p-value = 0.0001). Mean blood loss in Group A (diathermy group) was 194.32 ± 56.01 ml while in Group B (scalpel group) was 418.96 ± 26.18 ml (p-value = 0.0001). Mean post-operative pain in Group A (diathermy group) was 1.84 ± 1.13 while in Group B (scalpel group) was 3.28 ± 1.37 (p-value = 0.0001). Conclusion: This study concluded that the diathermy incision is better than scalpel skin incisions in terms of incision time, blood loss and post-operative pain. Keywords: caesarean section, diathermy incision, blood loss.