Accelerations in greater than intra-partum greater than cardiotocographic recording I. Correlation with perinatal outcome

The authors examine 1994 cardiotocographic recordings during labour, equivalent to 89% of all deliveries of the same period. They evaluate the tendency of the acceleratory activity in the single recordings during their whole lenght, comparing it with the perinatal outcome, evaluated by the perinatal mortality and the Apgar score at 1' and 5'. They conclude that the presence of accelerations could be considered, when present in a certain degree, a sure index of foetal well-being or of good possibility of foetal reactions to hypoxic stimuli, allowing a more cautious evaluation of the cardiotocogram.