ARE THERE ANY CHANGES IN THE COMPUTER-MEASURED FETAL HEART-RATE VARIATION AFTER VIBROACOUSTIC STIMULATION IN NEAR-TERM UNEVENTFUL PREGNANCIES

Objective: To study the effect of vibroacoustic stimulation on fetal h eart rate variation indices in near-term uneventful pregnancies. Metho ds: Computerized fetal heart rate monitoring was performed on 39 uneve ntful singleton pregnancies at 35-42 weeks by the 2CTG system, Vibroac oustic stimulation (3 s) was performed after the first 5 min of fetal quiet identified after a spontaneous phase of fetal activity, The firs t 5 min of the active phase, the 5 min of the quiet period, and the 15 min after stimulation were analyzed with a 5-min moving window, and t he number of accelerations (small and large), long-term irregularity, delta value, short-term variation, and interval index were calculated. Results: Vibroacoustic stimulation induces significant changes in all of the indices considered when compared with the values present durin g the quiet period. Moreover, no differences were evidenced when value s measured after vibroacoustic stimulation were compared with those pr esent during spontaneous active periods. Conclusions: Vibroacoustic st imulation during periods of fetal quiet induces changes of fetal heart rate parameters that are not different from those present during spon taneous periods of fetal activity.