[Recording of fetal movements during pregnancy. Aid to the diagnosis and prognosis ascertained by Tococinon].

Objective recording of fetal movements has become operational since the use of the tococinon. At the beginning of pregnancy, from the twelfth week of amenorrhoea onwards, aberrant values seem to be linked to several factors such as mother's anxiety, urinary infection and anesthesia. If they are repeated that suggests there are abnormalities, such as trisomies or malformations in the central nervous system, and implies that other diagnostic methods must be used to make the diagnosis such as ultrasound or amniocentesis. A new definition for lowered activity by the fetus is proposed for the end of pregnancy. If these recordings are repeated before or at the same time as other signs of fetal distress have been found we must think of pathological features such as intrauterine growth retardation, post-maturity, infections, rhesus incompatibility and diabetes. Pharmacological influences, too, have to be thought of and they are usually correlated with rises in the fetal pulse rate and with using the apparatus when the patient is walking about.