[Maternal anemia and fetal outcome. Authors's experience]

A physiological pregnancy in which the only pathological datum proved to be a computerised NST at the 40th week of pregnancy is reported. The NST trace showed evidence of fetal distress: absence of acceleration, short term reduced variability and deceleration of the fetal beat. On the basis of further traces, constantly pathological, and of the echographic evaluation of the fetal "outcome", with a biophysical profile which revealed oligohydramnios and absence of active fetal movement, Cesarean Section was undertaken, resulting in the birth of a baby girl of 3180 g, 50 cms, with Apgar 8/10. The clinical interest in this case arises from the total lack of pathological anamnestic data in the pregnancy, except, at a more accurate evaluation, anemia due to martial shortcoming of modest entity in the 1st and in the 2nd trimesters, worsening in the course of the 3rd after an episode of cystopyelitis. The message of the clinical case described is that immediate and careful evaluation of NST must be integrated in every case with obstetric anamneses, echographic and hormonal parameters, without a careful interpretation of routine hematochemical parameters.