Antepartum fetal heart rate testing. V. The nonstress test--an outpatient approach.

A total of 567 tests were performed in a 1 year period on 399 patients in an outpatient clinic setting to test the feasibility of an office approach to antepartum heart rate testing. Of these tests, 510 were reactive and 57 were nonreactive (NR); 15 NR tests had associated spontaneous CST's; 39 NR tests and one reactive test with an equivocal spontaneous CST were repeated in 2 to 4 hours; 30 tests were reactive and nine tests remained NR. An oxytocin-induced CST was needed to clarify fetal status in only nine of 607 tests. With this approach, the NST may be quite appropriate for office use.