Assessment of fetal well-being with ultrasound

The practice of medicine is undergoing marked changes fueled by the infusion of vast amounts of new information concerning the etiology, the progressive pathophysiology, and the complexity of host response to disease states. It is only recently that we have begun to examine the present extent of fetal disease and to determine the characteristics of its advancements. This information now permits new and rational approaches to the management of fetal disease. Clinical significance, both real and potential, of this new wealth of information in reducing perinatal mortality and morbidity is difficult to overestimate. Cumulative experience with fetal biophysical scoring as a method for antepartum fetal risk assessment is now extensive. The cumulative data indicate that the method is sensitive for recognizing both the normal and the compromised fetus. Moreover, the method appears to offer the advantage of grading various degrees of fetal compromise. The additional information gained by real-time ultrasound scanning (gestational age determination, fetal morphometrics, and fetal anomaly screening), although not an integral part of the fetal biophysical profile score, nevertheless remains a critical aspect of antepartum fetal assessment. These data are collected simultaneously with fetal biophysical profile scoring. It is impossible to separate cleanly the advantage of fetal biophysical profile scoring in isolation of this additional information. It would, however, seem that such attempt at separation is artificial because the data in combination provide the key information that the physician needs to guide fetal management. It seems more reasonable to expect that continued modification and improvement of the existing fetal biophysical profile scoring method with inclusion of new testing techniques will be the steps that will occur to improve testing accuracy (Fig. 3). In medical schools in the 1960s, it was generally taught that the concept of "irreducible" perinatal mortality existed and that this figure was usually set at a perinatal mortality of around 8 per 1000. Now in the 1990s that perinatal mortality has already fallen below this irreducible level and continues to fall. We now observe perinatal mortality among tested fetuses of less than 7 per 1000 and corrected perinatal mortalities of less than 2 per 1000. These remarkable results strongly underscore the advantages obtained by ultrasound assessment of the fetus.