Foetal drug exposure following intravenous injection of diazepam immediately before breech delivery.

The transplacental passage of diazepam (DZ) was studied in 32 cases of vaginal breech delivery. DZ (30 mg) was injected intravenously 15--170 seconds before delivery in order to induce sleep, and general anaesthesia was maintained with N2O/O2. The concentration of DZ was measured in blood obtained from the mother, the umbilical cord and the newborn. In the majority of the infants the drug concentrations in mixed cord blood and in capillary blood at the age of 2 hours were lower than previously observed in infants with cephalic presentations delivered by forceps. The short injection-delivery (I-D) intervals in breech deliveries may limit the transfer of drug to the foetus, but cord compression and circulatory changes may also lead to reduced materno-foetal exchange of DZ.