Fetal Wellbeing

Fetal vibroacoustic stimulation for facilitation of tests of fetal wellbeing

Tan KH, Smyth R

Source: Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries

Cochrane Reviews

Acoustic stimulation of unborn babies may make tests on their well-being more effective. Tests on unborn babies such as ultrasound and heart rate are carried out to check their well-being. As a baby’s sleep periods can alter those results, various methods are used to wake the baby. Fetal vibroacoustic stimulation uses a hand held electronic device placed just above the pregnant woman’s stomach. Brief sounds are sent through her stomach to her baby. A total of nine trials with a total of 4838 participants were included. Fetal vibroacoustic stimulation reduced the incidence of non-reactive antenatal cardiotocography test (seven trials; relative risk (RR) 0.62, 95% confidence interval (CI) random 0.52 to 0.74) and reduced the overall mean cardiotocography testing time (three trials; weighted mean difference (WMD) -9.94 minutes, 95% CI -9.37 minutes to -10.50 minutes). Vibroacoustic stimulation compared with mock stimulation evoked significantly more fetal movements when used in conjunction with fetal heart rate testing (one trial, RR 0.23, 95% CI 0.18 to 0.30).

Authors’ conclusions: Vibroacoustic stimulation offers benefits by decreasing the incidence of non-reactive cardiotocography and reducing the testing time. Further randomized trials should be encouraged to determine not only the optimum intensity, frequency, duration and position of the vibroacoustic stimulation, but also to evaluate the efficacy, predictive reliability, safety and perinatal outcome of these stimuli with cardiotocography and other tests of fetal well-being.