SAN FRANCISCO -- Results of
nonstress tests in 112 pregnant women being treated for chronic hypertension from January 2003 to September 2007 did not differ significantly in patients on labetalol, compared with those on methyldopa, results of a retrospective study found.
She and her associates had hypothesized that treatment with labetalol would increase the rate of nonreactive
nonstress tests, but found no evidence of that.
A recent study of high-risk patients failed to detect a difference in the incidence of nonreactive
nonstress tests, meconium-stained amniotic fluid cesarean delivery for fetal distress, low Apgar scores, or infants with a cord pH of <7.
Unexpected fetal demise despite the reactive
nonstress test during the conservative management of acute pancreatitis in pregnancy Int J Surg Case Rep 2014; 5 (12): 1047-1049.
There is no uniform agreement on the tests to be used and the frequency of testing during expectant management of women with gestational hypertension-preeclampsia, but most experts in the United States recommend daily fetal movement counts in combination with either a
nonstress test (NST) or a biophysical profile at the time of diagnosis and then once or twice a week until delivery.
Fetal surveillance in high-risk patients should include an initial
nonstress test, a biophysical profile, and weekly fetal surveillance after 26 weeks' gestation.
She is sent to the obstetric triage area for BP monitoring, blood testing for preeclampsia and
nonstress test fetal monitoring.
For the fetus, assessments include daily fetal kick counts, at least daily nonstress testing with uterine activity monitoring (and biophysical profiling if the
nonstress test is nonreactive), and twice-weekly amniotic fluid assessment.
Women in the amniocentesis group also had the antepartum testing, consisting of a
nonstress test and amniotic fluid index determination.
One of these modalities, the
nonstress test (NST), is particularly well suited to application by family physicians.
5) Informed consent, including risks, benefits, options, and expectations, should be adequately discussed (similar to the informed consent for colposcopy in the setting of an abnormal Pap smear or a
nonstress test in the presence of decreased fetal movement).
