Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Landspitali - The National University Hospital of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland; Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland. Electronic address: huldahja@landspitali.is.
Improved information about the evolution of fetal head rotation during labor is required. Ultrasound methods have the potential to provide reliable new knowledge about fetal head position.
The aim of the study was to describe fetal head rotation in women in spontaneous labor at term using ultrasound longitudinally throughout the active phase.
This was a single center, prospective cohort study at Landspitali - The National University Hospital of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland, from January 2016 to April 2018. Nulliparous women with a single fetus in cephalic presentation and spontaneous labor onset at =37 weeks' gestation were eligible. Inclusion occurred when the active phase could be clinically established by labor ward staff. Cervical dilatation was clinically examined. Fetal head position and subsequent rotation were determined using both transabdominal and transperineal ultrasound. Occiput positions were marked on a clockface graph with 24 half-hour divisions and categorized into occiput anterior (=10- and =2-o'clock positions), left occiput transverse (>2- and 8- and 50% of cases throughout the first stage of labor but were anterior in 53 of 80 women (66%) examined by and after full dilatation. The occiput position was anterior in 75% of cases at a head-perineum distance of =30 mm and in 73% of cases at an angle of progression of =125° (corresponding to a clinical station of +1). All initial occiput anterior (19), 77% of occiput posterior (40 of 52), and 93% of occiput transverse positions (26 of 28) were thereafter delivered in an occiput anterior position. In 6 cases, the fetal head had rotated over the 6-o'clock position from an occiput posterior or transverse position, resulting in a rotation of >180°. In addition, 6 of the 8 women ending with cesarean delivery had the fetus in occiput posterior position throughout the active phase of labor.
We investigated the rotation of the fetal head in the active phase of labor in nulliparous women in spontaneous labor at term, using ultrasound to provide accurate and objective results. The occiput posterior position was the most common fetal position throughout the active phase of the first stage of labor. Occiput anterior only became the most frequent position at full dilatation and after the head had descended below the midpelvic plane.