STAN is also important because it is a continuous monitoring device, unlike pH measurements in fetal blood, which require contact with the fetal scalp. The measurement only indicates the level of the acid-base balance at the moment the measurement is made. Of course, the evolution of this balance can be followed through several successive measurements, but, a heart rate pattern sometimes deteriorates very quickly and continuous monitoring of the risk of asphyxia as provided by STAN is often richer in information.–Prof. Franck Perrotin, Head of the Gynaecology-obstetrics Department at the University Hospital of Tours