The cases here reported show in the first place that external fetal ECG is useful to detect fetal distress and should therefore be included as a prenatal control from the second trimester of pregnancy on, specially in cases where there is a past history of fetal death of unknown origin, or a family history of congenital heart defects. A fetal tolerance test to exercise should also be done in those cases with a past history of fetal death, distress or whenever chronic fetal distress may be suspected to take place because of the presence of maternal pathology (endocrine, cardiovascular, or infectious diseases, etc.). Fetal tolerance test to uterine contractions should also be done whenever possible to evaluate the tolerance of these fetuses to uterine contractility during labor. More studies are needed to establish standard guides of this method for the practical obstetrical management of products of high risk pregnancies.

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[External fetal electrocardiograms with P wave. Report of 6 cases].

The purpose of this report is to present six pregnancies in which by means of external fetal electrocardiography, besides the feto-maternal QRS complexes, a clear fetal P wave can be identified. The number of electrocardiograms taken per patient was of one or more. In one of the cases this finding has persisted from the 26th to the 30th weeks of pregnancy. When analyzing the clinical characteristics of the cases, the only commun finding was that each one of the pregnancies averaged between nineteen and twenty six weeks of amenorrhea. Attention is called to search for the possible reasons by which commonly the fetal P wave can not be detected. Findings of other authors are discussed.

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