10.1.2 Scarred cervix
The cervix may also have been damaged during a previous delivery, for example by forceps used to help deliver a baby that was failing to make progress after the head had crowned. Or cervical damage may have resulted if surgical instruments were inserted into the uterus via the vagina, for example to control postpartum haemorrhage, or to treat a problem in the uterus such as inflammation of the uterine lining. In any of these cases the injured cervix will develop scar tissue after healing that may burst open during an obstructed labour.
Do you recall from the Antenatal Care Module, what names are given to the muscle layer in the uterus and the inner lining of the uterus (where the placenta forms)?
The muscle layer is called the myometrium, and the inner lining is the endometrium.
10.1.1 Uterine scarring