[The present limits of fetal monitoring during labor: future prospects]

On the basis of cases in which both fetal cardiac rhythm and pH in utero were monitored, the authors studied the prognostic value of anomalies in fetal cardiac rate. There was a good correlation between the absence of anomalies in monitoring and fetal wellbeing. In cases with an anomaly in the rhythm, the monitoring represented only a warning signal in the diagnosis of fetal distress, the only certain indicator being the pH measurement in utero. Nevertheless, the increasing use of fetal monitoring seems to have had a marked effect on perinatal mortality in Professor Magnin's obstetrics department.