Multicenter randomized controlled trial assessing the impact of a cervical traction maneuver (Amr's maneuver) on the incidence of postpartum hemorrhage

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of a cervical traction maneuver (Amr's maneuver) used in conjunction with active management of the third stage of labor (AMTSL) on the incidence of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). METHOD: The present multicenter randomized controlled trial was conducted in Cairo between March 1, 2016, and June 30, 2017. Women aged at least 18 years who had singleton pregnancies and were candidates for vaginal delivery were enrolled. After block randomization, AMTSL was performed for all participants. Following placental delivery, Amr's maneuver using cervical traction for 90 seconds was carried out in the study group. The primary outcome, incidence of PPH (>500 mL blood loss) within 6 hours of delivery, was compared between the study and control groups in an intention-to-treat analysis. RESULTS: There were 852 patients randomized to the study (n=426) and control (n=426) groups. The incidence of PPH was significantly lower in the study group compared with the control group (6 [1.4%] vs 19 [4.5%]; P=0.015). Absolute risk reduction of 3.1% (95% CI 0.8-5.6), relative risk reduction of 0.32 (95% CI 0.13-0.78), and number needed to treat of 33 (95% CI 129-18) were observed in the study group. CONCLUSION: Amr's maneuver was effective in decreasing the incidence of PPH. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02660567.