REACTIVE NONSTRESS TEST DESPITE SEVERE CONGENITAL BRAIN-DAMAGE - WHATDOES THE TEST MEASURE

BACKGROUND: Antenatal testing with the nonstress test is common in the evaluation of high-risk pregnancies. A reactive test gives the clinic ian reassurance of fetal well-being. CASE: A 19-year-old woman, gravid a 1, para 0, delivered an infant with holoprosencephaly and multiple f acial and limb abnormalities at 38 weeks' gestation. The fetal heart t racing was reassuring despite the infant's compromised neurologic stat us. CONCLUSION: The nonstress test is dependent only upon the fetal br ainstem, and it predicts oxygenation at that site rather than normalit y of the entire central nervous system. This limitation of the nonstre ss test must be remembered when performing antenatal testing.