Eventraciones poscesárea

objective: to determine the frequency of ventral hernia after cesarean section. method: retrospective study of 752 women submitted to 1069 cesarean section between 1946 and 1999 (1046 which were performed by the author -97.84%-). the following data were registered: number of gestation, type of skin and fascial incisions, number of cesarean in each woman, wound complications and eventration characteristics. setting: private hospitals instituto simón rodríguez, policlínica caracas and centro médico, caracas. results: 14 incisional hernias were diagnosed, (1.86% in 752 women, 1.33% in 1069 cesarean sections) in lapses from 6 days to 10 years. gestations numbers were comprised between one and five. frecuency of eventrations increased, highly significantly, with the number of previous cesarean operations, from 0.36% after the first one to 6.25% in the sixth. there was one (1.07%) eventration in 93 skin-fascia transverse incision and 13 (1.33%) in 976 vertical approach, without statistical significance. conclusion: in the present serie, apparently, the more important factor in the production of ventral hernia after cesarean section is the repetition of the operation.