Guidance
Evidence-based recommendations on insertion of a balloon device to disimpact an engaged fetal head before an emergency caesarean section.
Is this guidance up to date?
June 2023: A more recent publication on this topic (IPG744) has been withdrawn, following the retraction of a paper used in committee decision making. This topic will be returning to committee for re-discussion and the schedule will be shared once confirmed. In the meantime, please refer to this particular interventional procedure (IPG515) for guidance on this topic.
Guidance development process
How we develop NICE interventional procedures guidance
Coding recommendations
The OPCS-4 code for insertion of a balloon device to disimpact an engaged fetal head prior to emergency caesarean section are:
R27.8 Other specified other operations to facilitate delivery.
The Clinical Classifications Service has advised NICE that currently these are the most suitable OPCS-4 codes to describe this procedure. The OPCS-4 classification is designed to categorise procedures for analysis and it is not always possible to identify a procedure uniquely.