Comparative Study of Foetal Colour Doppler versus Non-Stress Test as a Predictor of Perinatal Outcome in High Risk Pregnancy

The desire of every women contemplating motherhood is that her pregnancy culminates in a healthy offspring who will achieve the highest possible physical and mental potential. Assessment of the foetal wellbeing is done by various biophysical methods. But the problem of sample collection, accuracy and need for laboratory technology and personnel have made biochemical methods of foetal monitoring less favourable than biophysical methods. Non stress test (NST) is most commonly used for antepartum evaluation of foetal status. It is easy, non-invasive, easily performed and interpreted method by which can identify nearly twice as many foetuses with an abnormal foetal heart rate pattern than intermittent auscultation of foetal heart rate [1]. The use of Doppler ultrasonography for the evaluation of the foetal circulation is based on physical principal i.e. the frequency of sound wave change when reflected from a moving object and proportional to the velocity of moving object (Doppler Effect) [2]. It is a non-invasive tool that has proven useful in the evaluation of maternal and foetal haemodynamic.