What is the best treatment to reduce the need for caesarean section in nulliparous women at term with delayed first stage of labour

#### What you need to know Labour is commonly divided into three stages. The duration of the first and second stages of labour vary, dependent on parity. Figure 1⇓ depicts the stages of labour and expected duration as defined by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).1 Nulliparous women tend to have a longer labour than multiparous women. Delay can result from poor uterine contractions or the relationship between size, presentation, and position of the fetus and the maternal pelvis that obstructs vaginal delivery. Uterine contractile dysfunction affects between 11% and 30% of nulliparous women234 and is the focus of this paper. Fig 1  The three stages of labour and their expected duration1 Delayed labour— There is some variation worldwide in the definition of delayed labour (table 1⇓). The World Health Organization considers delay as a rate of cervical dilation of less than 0.5-1 cm in four hours once labour is established, whereas NICE recommends waiting a further two hours with cervical dilation of less than 1 cm before delay is confirmed. Prolonged labour is associated with higher rates of chorioamnionitis9 with risk of neonatal sepsis and of unplanned caesarean section with associated risks of infection and bleeding.101112 View this table: Table 1 Summary of professional guidelines for normal duration of labour, definition of delay in the first stage of labour, and recommended treatment with oxytocin in nulliparous women Oxytocin— Treatment for a confirmed delay …