The purpose of this prospective study was to investigate whether there is an increased risk of retinal hemorrhage in those infants delivered with the assistance of the silastic vacuum extractor from mothers who were low-risk and who had normal labors. Ocular fundi of 38 term newborns (19 vacuum assisted deliveries, 19 spontaneous deliveries) were examined for retinal hemorrhage within 72 hours after delivery. The overall frequency of retinal hemorrhage was 21.1%, 31.6% with the vacuum extractor and 10.5% with a spontaneous delivery. The mode of delivery did influence the number of infants with hemorrhages in each category, however this was only statistically significant in primiparous patients. The prognostic significance of the degree of retinal hemorrhage was not assessed.

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