Fetal acoustic stimulation testing: a retrospective experience with the fetal acoustic stimulation test.
The nonstress test is of accepted value in the surveillance of high-risk pregnancies. In order to improve the efficiency of testing, the authors retrospectively evaluated the adjunctive use of acoustic stimulation testing (FAS-TEST) in 1241 patients who underwent 3464 antepartum fetal heart rate tests. The results were compared to those in the previous 6 months during which time 1307 patients underwent 3573 nonstress tests. The frequency of nonreactive tests was 12.6% in the nonstress test group and 6.1% in those patients who underwent the FAS-TEST. The antepartum fetal death rates were not significantly different when the two groups were compared. The FAS-TEST decreases the percentage of nonreactive tests in a high-risk population and, as a consequence, may reduce the testing time.
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death / Q000175:diagnosis; D005318:Fetal Heart / Q000502:physiology; D005333:Fetus / Q000502:physiology*; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D013997:Time Factors