A study has been made of obstetric assistance in 1 796 podalic version labors between 1966 and 1982, with 12.4% of cesarean sections, an extremely conservative criterion. The corrected intra-and postnatal mortalities were 141.1% and 26.6% for premature and mature deliveries respectively. 744 children were examined between 4 and 10 years after birth, using clinical studies, intelligence quotient measurements by the method of Wppsi or WISC (according to age), EEG observations if necessary and stimulatory, motor and behavioral neurological tests. The results are compared with those of a similar study using 418 control children whose cephalic version births were spontaneous and completely normal. Care should be taken in interpretation of births through the vaginal canal in order to exclude the 30%-50% of cases with a wide safety margin, in which the danger is essentially zero in mature fetuses and in premature fetuses of 2 to 2.5 kg. Cesarean section should be performed almost systematically when the fetus weighs less than 2 kg, so as to avoid any possible danger to the child.
