Current role of the midforceps operation.

For 300 years the use of midforceps by skilled obstetricians was the safest alternative to the prolonged, arrested second stage of labor. In the past 30 years the use of oxytocin augmentation for dysfunctional labor, the declining morbidity of cesarean section, and the greater skill of obstetricians in performing the abdominal rather than the vaginal operation have established cesarean section as the less hazardous method for dealing with most cases of abnormal second stage of labor. To prove conclusively that cesarean section is the safest method of delivery in all such cases a prospective, randomized study must be done.