Kielland's forceps or ventouse—a comparison

Summary. A retrospective study over a 3-year period compared maternal and neonatal outcomes after birth by Kielland's forceps with those by ventouse when there was deep transverse arrest of head. Of the 259 women, 117 were delivered with Kielland's forceps and 142 were delivered with the ventouse. Of the Kielland's forceps deliveries, 15% were performed by a specialist, compared with 41% of the vacuum extractions. There were no differences in maternal morbidity overall, but when groups of operators were compared maternal complications were more frequent in the forceps group with the less experienced operators. There was little early neonatal morbidity (as judged by Apgar score, intubation, admission to the special care baby unit, jaundice and abnormal neurological behaviour) but cephalhaematoma occurred significantly more often in babies born by the ventouse than by Kielland's forceps. There were no perinatal deaths.