The therapeutic value of maintenance tocolysis: an overview of the evidence.

The results obtained from current systematic overview do not support the routine administration of maintenance tocolytic treatment after parenteral tocolytic therapy has halted acute preterm labor. Eliminating or reducing such routine maintenance therapy, therefore, could substantially decrease costs and side effects associated with managing preterm labor without compromising perinatal outcomes. It remains to be elucidated whether it will become possible to accurately identify some groups of pregnancies for which maintenance tocolysis would be beneficial.