The current status of intrapartum fetal monitoring.

Intensive intrapartum fetal monitoring, using direct fetal EKG leads and intrauterine pressure sensing transducers, seems to add another level of care for the fetus. As with other laboratory aids or devices, fetal monitoring data should not be exclusively relied on in decision making processes. When used with other modern monitor aids, such as scalp pH, it can aid immensely in the management of both normal and complicated labors. When fetal heart rate patterns remain normal throughout labor there can be a high degree of confidence that the fetal outcome will be good. If abnormal patterns occur, however, great care should be taken in interpreting these data, and it should be combined with the overall status of the mother and the fetus, and used together with the clinical acumen of the physician in determining a method of approach to the management of intrapartum situations. Continuous monitoring techniques can and should be applied in the neonatal nursery for intensive neonatal management and care (79,80). As experience is gained in clinical fetal monitoring and as new techniques and methods become available, intensuve intrapartum fetal monitoring will become an increasingly important and significant technique for management of labor (4, 139).