Simplified biophysical profile: an antepartum fetal screening test

A total of 330 high-risk pregnant women with gestational ages of 32-42 weeks were followed until delivery using the biophysical profile (BPP) and a screening test consisting of the amniotic fluid index together with fetal acoustic stimulation under ultrasound M-mode scanning. The test was compared with the BPP and nonstress test (NST) for predicting abnormal outcome. The sensitivities of the BPP, NST and the proposed test were 100, 98.4 and 100%, respectively, the negative predictive values were 100, 99.4 and 100%, while the false-positive rates were 21.3, 39.3 and 67%. Our simplified biophysical testing method is suggested to be a good negative preliminary screening test, while positive results require further fetal testing methods. This test reduced the need for BPP in many high-risk patients and had the advantages of simplicity, low cost and less time consumption.