Fetal breathing: its physiologic and clinical implications.
The respiratory movements the human fetus makes in utero can be detected and used as a valuable aid in determining fetal well-being. Their presence or absence, amplitude, and duration can all provide important information. Their absence, however, does not carry a poor prognosis unless other indices of fetal status, such as the nonstress test and oxytocin-challenge contraction-stress test, are also abnormal at the same time.
D000818:Animals; D001049:Apnea / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D005316:Fetal Distress / Q000175:diagnosis; D005323:Fetal Monitoring; D005333:Fetus / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011247:Pregnancy; D012119:Respiration; D014463:Ultrasonography