Prospective randomized study of x-ray pelvimetry in the primigravida

Abstract

A prospective randomized study was performed to determine the usefulness of x-ray pelvimetry before oxytocin induction or augmentation. Two hundred primiparous women were entered into this study. Agreement on pelvic size by the clinical and radiologic assessment occurred in 76.5% of the cases. When the total groups were compared, there were no differences in pregnancy outcome. In the induction of labor subgroups there were less forcep deliveries and lower five-minute Apgar scores in the pelvimetry group. In the augmentation subgroups there were no differences. The subgroup of patients diagnosed clinically to have a borderline pelvis, had a higher incidence of cesarean section (P less than .05) if they had x-ray pelvimetry. These results suggest that the elimination of x-ray pelvimetry in primigravida women does not lead to a compromise in infant outcome when electronic fetal monitoring is used.