Abstract
A method for electronic supervision of the human fetus based upon controlled sound stimulation of the fetus and the fetal heart rate response was used to evaluate the effect of pethidine, labor analgesic, on the fetus. Half an hour after i.m. injection of 100 mg pethidine in the mother, the fetal heart rate response to sound stimulation was already depressed in 10 of 20 cases. A general depression of the heart rate response to sound was found 2 and 3 h after the injection. The fetal heart rate response to sound stimulation seems to constitute a sensitive record of pethidine''s influence.

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