The Hay's flexion rotation obstetric forceps: reestablishing relevance in modern obstetrics

A prospective evaluation of 140 forceps deliveries with the Hay's flexion rotation obstetric forceps was undertaken over a 5-year period. The Hay's forceps was used for a variety of indications and included outlet forceps application in 35.7%, low or midforceps application in 29.3% with forceps rotation in 16.4%, 19.3% of applications for an aftercoming head and 19.3% applications at caesarean section. Outlet forceps deliveries had maternal and neonatal outcomes comparable with the Wrigley's short obstetric forceps. Midforceps applications were compared to the Simpson's long forceps, with maternal morbidity at 21% being significantly less, blade marks being the only neonatal morbidity and the Apgar scores being significantly higher with the Hay's forceps. Every forceps application at caesarean section resulted in an easy delivery. Thus the Hay's forceps with innovations such as parallelism and flexion potential could revalidate the role of the forceps in contemporary obstetrics.