Medical Illustration - A Pictorial Essay Visual Illustration of Obstetric Anal Sphincter Injuries (OASIS) Degrees of Severity, a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Abstract

Obstetric anal sphincter injury affects about 5.7% of primiparous women who deliver vaginally. Perineal injury during childbirth is a common event with important morbidity associated with third-and-fourth degree perineal tears (also referred to as obstetric anal sphincter injuries—OASIS). As there was a lack of consistency in the classification of a partial anal sphincter injury, with up to 33% of consultant obstetricians classifying a complete or partial tear of the EAS as a second-degree tear. We have proposed simple, digital diagrammatic drawings to visually represent all degrees (grades) of OASIS based on the WHO OASIS classification.

Keywords

obstetric anal sphincter injuries (OASIS) - anal sphincter - perineal tear - faecal incontinence - diagnostics - treatment

Declaration of Interest Statement

There are no relevant financial or non-financial competing interests to report.

Abbreviations

OASIS: obstetric anal sphincter injuries, AI: anal incontinence, EAS: external anal sphincter, IAS: internal anal sphincter, RTC: randomized control trial. SVD: spontaneous vaginal delivery, WHO: World Health Organization.

Publikationsverlauf

Eingereicht: 11. Januar 2024

Angenommen: 09. April 2024

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
06. Juni 2024

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