[Monitoring of high-risk pregnancies. Complementary aspects of the nonstress test, the oxytocin test and the biophysical score]

Abstract

The authors have studied the recent literature as well as the conclusions reached at the FIGO Congress in Berlin in 1985 to define rigorous criteria for interpreting the three principal methods that are carried out for antepartum monitoring. These are the non-stress test (NST), the oxytocin test (OCT) and the biophysical score (BPS). The point out the usefulness and the reliability of the NST as a screening technique for hypoxia in utero and also how necessary it is to use more sensitive tests like OCT ou BPS to work out the degree to which the fetus is affected. The way the cases should be handled clinically according to the results of these tests is described.