title: Should we really avoid giving oxygen to mothers with concerning fetal heart rate patterns?
abstract: We challenge a provocative article entitled "Oxygen for intrauterine resuscitation: of unproved benefit and potentially harmful" by Hamel et al in the August issue of the Journal. The authors contend there is no good evidence that oxygen administration to the mother of a fetus with a concerning fetal heart rate pattern prevents acidosis and that in theory such oxygen administration may actually or potentially do harm to the fetus. It is clear that oxygen is administered quite often to women in labor, especially to those with category II fetal heart rate patterns and, because more than 80% of women in labor have these patterns and the majority of these patterns are unlikely to be associated with significant fetal hypoxia, that such oxygen administration is greatly overused. We describe in this article evidence that oxygen given to the mother actually does improve fetal oxygenation, especially in hypoxemic fetuses, and make arguments that there really is no substantial evidence that, except in theory, maternal oxygen administration causes any harm to the fetus.
authors: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA; Pediatrix/MedNax Medical Group. Electronic address: tjgarite@uci.edu.
authors: Thomas J
authors: TJ
authors: Garite
authors: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA; Pediatrix/MedNax Medical Group; Miller Children's and Women's Hospital, Long Beach, CA.
authors: Michael P
authors: MP
authors: Nageotte
authors: University of California, San Francisco, CA.
authors: Julian T
authors: JT
authors: Parer
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007744:Obstetric Labor Complications; D010102:Oxygen Inhalation Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011247:Pregnancy
keywords: fetal heart rate; fetal oxygenation; fetus; mother; oxygen administration