The right and the responsibility

Premature rupture of the membranes before 28 weeks: conservative management

The maternal and fetal outcomes of 70 consecutive singleton pregnancies with prolonged premature rupture of the membranes before 28 weeks, which were managed expectantly, were evaluated; 58.6% of the mothers developed chorioamnionitis and 13% postpartum endomyometritis. No long-term maternal sequelae were noted. None of the 22 infants born before 25 weeks survived the neonatal period. The weights of the 35 surviving infants ranged between 800 and 4100 gm. Only 29.4% of the 17 infants with long-term follow-up were both physically and developmentally normal at 6 months of age or more.

Effects of induction of labor on the neurophysiologic functioning of newborn infants

Neurophysiologic responses of newborn infants delivered after normal onset of labor are compared with those of newborn infants whose mothers had labor induced with oxytocin or prostaglandin F2 alpha. No differences in brain activity or heart rate were detected between groups in terms of frequency of response to auditory, visual, tactile, or olfactory stimulation. Significant differences were found for resting brain activity defined in terms of autoregressive spectral estimates or coefficients. The largest differences were between the groups with normal onset of labor and prostaglandin F2 alpha.