When do obstetricians recommend delivery for a high-risk preterm growth-retarded fetus? The GRIT Study Group. Growth Restriction Intervention Trial.

Forty-nine obstetricians from three European countries were asked when they would advise delivery for a preterm fetus failing to thrive in utero, given various gestational ages, and a range of either umbilical artery Doppler flow velocity waveforms or CTG variability measures. Their responses indicated a wide area of disagreement about the correct timing of delivery, and a willingness to randomize patients to clinical trials of management. The area of uncertainty corresponded to the gestational age and Doppler bands at which participants have been entered to the pilot phase of a randomised trial of timed delivery, the Growth Restriction Intervention Trial (GRIT).