"Dilatation" is a widening of the cervical passage. This is done using smoothly conical and tapered, graduated metal rods of various sizes and these are appropriately called the dilators.

The Friedman curve, the gold standard for rates of cervical dilation and fetal descent during active labor, was developed almost 50 years ago. To define a modern curve for normal labor ...

Our purpose was to describe serum LDH isoenzymes 24–30 hours post-delivery to determine if cervical dilation rates following labor admission were associated with a particular LDH profile.