Moxibustion for correcting non-cepphalic presentation. A literature review

Introduction

Although the incidence of non-cephalic presentation in the last trimester of pregnancy is not high, around 4% of expectant mothers have this presentation at the time of childbirth, which tends to lead to a cesarean birth. Many women today prefer a birth that is as safe as possible, but with little medical intervention. One of the objectives of the World Health Organisation is to keep the number of cesareans below 21% of all births. Currently, there are two techniques for trying to turn the fetus to a cephalic presentation: the external cephalic version and moxibustion.

Objective

To assess the base of research evidence for correcting breech presentation with the use of moxibustion.

Material and Methods

Papers were identified by sequential searching of the following databases: Medline, Cochrane, Web of Science and Scopus. Papers that assess the efficacy of moxibustion in pregnant women with breech presentation were analysed.

Results

Fourteen papers were selected for analysis. Moxibustion at V67 in pregnant women with breech presentation seems to be effective at turning the fetus to cephalic presentation.

Conclusions

Moxibustion is a simple technique that is well accepted by pregnant women and economical. It should always be undertaken by expert acupuncture professionals. Future research is required to support this technique.