In plain words
A Montevideo unit is a way to measure how strong contractions are. Clinicians measure pressure inside the uterus during contractions. They add up the pressure above baseline across the contractions in a 10-minute window. The total is given in Montevideo units. Clinicians use it when labor seems to stall, to check whether contractions are strong enough. The 2014 consensus on labor arrest uses more than 200 units as one marker. Your care team also looks at your cervix, your baby, and how you are doing. The measure is used mostly in hospital care, and it is only one part of the picture.
The deeper version
The Montevideo unit is the sum of intrauterine pressure amplitudes above baseline, in mmHg, across contractions in a 10-minute window, measured with an intrauterine pressure catheter. It was introduced as a quantitative measure of uterine activity in labor. The 2014 ACOG and SMFM consensus on preventing primary delivery defines first-stage arrest as at least 6 centimeters with ruptured membranes and either four hours or more of adequate contractions (above 200 Montevideo units) or six hours or more of with inadequate contractions, with no cervical change. Most labor is assessed by external monitoring and examination, and the intrauterine measure is used selectively. The controversy concerns whether the threshold reliably separates true arrest from normal slow labor.
Where it comes up
- Very fast and very long laborsBirth and the First Days
- The stages of labor, plainlyBirth and the First Days
- Induction: why, how, and what to askGetting Ready for Birth
What mothers here say about Montevideo unit
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Sources
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine — Safe Prevention of the Primary Cesarean Delivery (2014)