From the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Valie-Asr Hospital. Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Tehran. I.R. Iran
Abstract: (6792 Views)
Postdate pregnancy is estimated to occur in 3% to 12% of all gestations.
Morbidity and mortality rates associated with this common obstetric problem are
higher than those with term gestation. The incidence of fetal distress, birth injury,
meconium aspiration, congenital malformations, macrosomia, and oligohydramnios
is also greater in postdate pregnancies. We prospectively evaluated breast
self-stimulation to determine its effect on the incidence of postdate pregnancy.
One-hundred uncomplicated patients at 40 weeks gestation were randomly assigned
to either a control group or a breast-stimulation group. Results showed
that breast stimulation reduced the number of pregnancies managed as postdates
from 22 per 100 (22%) to zero per 100 (p= 0.002).
It is concluded that breast stimulation in postdate pregnancies can decrease
significantly the number of patients that must be monitored by biochemical or
biophysical means.