Operational Medicine Medical Education and Training

Obstetrical Forceps
Forceps are used to assist in labor and delivery. Forceps delivery is considered an operative obstetric procedure.

This short, free video provides an introduction to this technique.

Obstetric Forceps
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 obstetrical forceps

 

Operative delivery means the use of obstetrical forceps or cesarean section to achieve the delivery. Operative delivery is indicated any time it becomes safer to delivery the baby immediately than to allow pregnancy to continue.

Indications for operative delivery are many, but a partial list includes:

  • Maternal hemorrhage

  • Uterine rupture

  • Unremediable fetal distress

  • Fetal intolerance of labor

  • Maternal exhaustion

  • Failure to progress in labor

  • Failure of descent in labor

  • Arrest of labor

  • Uterine inertia

  • Placenta previa

  • Placental abruption

  • Previous cesarean section

  • Previous perineal repair for incontinence

  • Fetal malformation

  • Any condition that increases the maternal risk for pushing, including:

    • Stroke

    • Cerebral aneurism

    • Eclampsia

  • Fetal malpresentation or malposition, including:

    • Fetal transverse lie

    • Breech

    • Deep transverse arrest

    • Face presentation, particularly mentum posterior

These indications are sometimes relative, not absolute, and clinical judgment must be applied in any individual clinical situation to determine whether operative delivery is a good idea or not. Other aspects of clinical judgment are the specific form of operative delivery (forceps vs. cesarean section) and the timing of the operative delivery.

From OBGYN 101

 

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