External cephalic version (ECV) is a procedure during which the fetus is rotated from breech or transversal to cephalic presentation. Our aim was to assess the outcomes of successful ECV in terms of obstetrical and immediate neonatal outcomes relative spontaneous cephalic presentation.

We performed a retrospective single-center observational study from January 2007 to December 2017. All included participants benefited from trial of labor with delivery of the fetus in cephalic presentation. They were divided into two groups depending on whether an ECV had been successfully performed or cephalic presentation was spontaneous.

The cephalic presentation after ECV and spontaneous cephalic groups comprised 55 and 244 patients, respectively. The two groups differed significantly in terms of the proportion of induced labor (20 [36.4 %] and 56 [22.9 %], p = 0.04), use of oxytocin during labor (31 [56.4 %] and 100 [49.9 %], p = 0.04), duration of labor (342 ± 183 min and 279 ± 140 min, p = 0.008), spontaneous delivery (38 [69.1 %] and 199 [81.5 %], p = 0.04), intrapartum cesarean section (9 [16.4 %] and 16 [6.6 %], p = 0.02), occiput-posterior variety at birth (20 [36.4 %] and 56 [22.9 %], p = 0.04), and brace umbilical positioning at birth (3 [5.4 %] and 2 [0.8 %], p = 0.04), respectively. There were no significant intergroup differences in terms of APGAR score, cord arterial pH/lactates, or reanimation/intensive care admission.

A successful ECV does not seem to guaranty an identical labor progress and obstetrical outcome as spontaneous cephalic presentations. Immediate neonatal state, on the other hand, seems unaffected by a history of ECV.