THE RELATION BETWEEN EASE OF FORCEPS DELIVERY AND SPEED OF CERVICAL DILATATION

Summary An attempt has been made to predict a difficult forceps delivery. The duration of the 7 to 10 cm cervical dilatation interval was measured from the completed cervimetric chart in 952 consecutive patients who delivered spontaneously between December 1973 and September 1974. The 7 to 10 cm cervical dilatation intervals of this group were compared with those of 378 consecutive patients in whom forceps were applied with the fetal head in the occipito‐anterior position and 83 consecutive patients where Kielland's forceps rotation from the occipito‐transverse or occipito‐posterior position was performed. The forceps deliveries were graded as ‘easy’, ‘moderately difficult’, or ‘difficult’. In only 5 per cent of the spontaneous delivery group did the 7 to 10 cm cervical dilatation interval exceed two hours. In the occipito‐anterior and Kielland's forceps groups an ‘easy’ delivery could be expected if the 7 to 10 cm cervical dilatation interval was less than two hours. The greater this interval increased beyond two hours, the greater was the proportion of ‘moderately difficult’ and ‘difficult’ forceps deliveries.