Contraction stress test by breast stimulation as part of antepartum monitoring

Non-stress tests (NSTs) and oxytocin challenge tests (OCTs) are widely used in most prenatal units for the assessment and monitoring of patients with high risk pregnancies. The contraction stress test is considered to be one of the best tests for evaluating fetal wellbeing in indicated cases. For this purpose, the OCT is usually used. It is a time-consuming test. An intravenous i.v. and oxytocin are both required, and it is therefore relatively costly. In this study, a non-invasive technique--breast stimulation--was used to induce uterine contractions for the purpose of contraction stress testing. Sixty-six patients were studied, and a total of 95 breast stimulation tests (BSTs) were done. 91 tests were successful contraction stress tests (95.78%). The high success rate, the fact that this is a non-invasive method, its easy application and the fact that this test is less expensive and much less time consuming make it a good test for the assessment of fetuses at risk.