Assessing fetal health.
Fetal surveillance significantly reduces the incidence of fetal loss, perinatal morbidity and maternal distress. Obstetricians traditionally classify pregnancies as 'low' or 'high risk' and apply various methods of fetal surveillance in the latter group. However, the majority of stillbirths now occur in 'low-risk' women. This seemingly anomalous observation emphasises the need to develop more effective ways of identifying 'at-risk' fetuses in 'low-risk' women. This chapter describes and critically evaluates eleven currently available tools for fetal surveillance. It also reviews the criteria for ascribing risk status in pregnancy and suggests a pragmatic approach to health assessment in normally formed fetuses for each group. It does not address fetal surveillance during labour and delivery.
Gribbin
Clare
C
Department of Feomaternal Medicine, Directorate of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Queen's Medical Centre, University Hospital, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK.
James
David
D
D005260:Female; D005315:Fetal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005323:Fetal Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000379:methods*; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal / Q000379:methods