Midforceps delivery: a critical review.

A survey of results of midforceps delivery in mother and fetus was carried out, reviewing the most relevant publications of the past several years. Many discrepancies have been found from definition of what is (or should be) considered midforceps delivery to methods of gathering the material for analysis and the statistical evaluations. Specific study of some of these results was done which revealed possible flaws in the conclusions reached by the authors. Clearly maternal mortality is no longer a justifiable aspect to be studied. However, maternal morbidity should be considered and compared to that associated with vaginal and/or cesarean section deliveries. Likewise perinatal mortality and morbidity should be the standard of study and, in particular, long-term follow-up of infants delivered by the various methods. Until those observations are made from reliable data of comparable populations, it is probably not justified to condemn midforceps deliveries well conducted and judiciously indicated.