Meghana Rao¹, P.Ranjith|² , A.Vivekanand³

¹Assistant Professor,³Professor & Head, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences,Karimnagar,Telangana.²Assistant Professor, Department of General Medicine, Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences,Karimnagar,Telangana,India.

Address for correspondence: Dr Meghana Rao, Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences,Karimnagar,Telangana,India.

Email: dr_meghana11@yahoo.co.in

Introduction: The main goal of an obstetrician in modern day is to deliver a baby in a good health and minimize the disability of the newborn. Intermittent fetal heart auscultation with a stethoscope gives an idea about fetal wellbeing.

Objectives: To detect fetal distress by intermittent fetal heart auscultation and correlate fetal heart rate with APGAR score.

Material and Methods: The present study was conducted on 100 cases at term gestation admitted in Kamineni Institute of Medical Sciences for a period of 2 years

Results: In the present study fetal distress was found to be 33%. 23% had low APGAR scores. Neonatal seizure rates, intrauterine and neonatal deaths were nil in the study.

Conclusion: Intermittent fetal heart auscultation in active stage of labor can effectively detect fetal distress.

Keywords : Intermittent fetal heart auscultation, fetal distress, APGAR score.