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This multicentric study presents 6 cases of Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome (deletion of 4p) detected after a sonographic prenatal diagnosis of early intrauterine growth retardation with fetal abnormalities. Standard karyotyping on regular G-banding during pregnancy was normal in half of the cases. Fortunately, the associated sonographic signs of a typical face, cystic cerebral lesions, midline fusion defects and bilateral renal hypoplasia may help to refine specific indications for high-resolution banding and molecular analysis by in situ hybridization.

Mifepristone proved effective for cervical ripening and reduced the time to delivery compared with placebo, but it did not improve the rate of cesarean. Our study did not include enough pregnancies to reach conclusions about fetal or neonatal safety.

Summary The prophylactic value of beta‐mimetic drugs in preventing respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) is investigated by comparing 29 preterm infants of ritodrine treated mothers with 34 preterm infants of a control group. Five cases of RDS (17 per cent) occurred among the infants of treated mothers as compared with 12 cases (35 per cent) in the control group (p=0.09). The difference is, however, statistically significant for the group of infants weighing less than 2300 grams (p=0.01) which includes all infants affected with RDS.