Written by Editorial Team
Once you become pregnant, one of your biggest worries is whether your baby will be healthy and how you can be assured of the same. One of the most common tests that are conducted to ensure the well-being of the fetus growing within you is the Bio Physical Profile Test. Normally conducted towards the final trimester of pregnancy; this painless procedure is an excellent means of discovering the well-being of the fetus within you.
In This Article
This is a test that assesses the health of the fetus during your pregnancy. This test normally includes an ultrasound of the fetus along with monitoring of the fetal heartbeat electronically.
This test can measure the:
The best time to do this test is anywhere between thirty-eight and forty-two weeks. It can also be conducted as early as the starting of the third trimester.
A biophysical profile test is normally done in order to:
Not much preparation is required before the test is normally conducted. Like most other pregnancy tests, one requires to have a bladder that is full before the test. However, if you happen to be in the final trimester of the pregnancy, a full bladder is also not required. Sometimes they ask you to eat a good meal just before the test is conducted so that the fetus inside you gets stimulated to move around a little more than usual.
For the test, you are made to lie down on the examination table. They check your blood pressure levels before the test begins. A belt is positioned across the stomach and it comprises a sensor that assesses the heart rate of the fetus. This test normally takes around twenty minutes overall.
However, if the fetus is asleep, you may require waiting for the little one to wake up to get proper results. They spread a gel on the tummy and a tiny monitor is rotated all over the abdomen several times. After the test, the gel will be wiped clean and the scores will be revealed.
Every component or parameter that includes breathing, muscle tone, heartbeat, amniotic fluid, and body movements are all assigned a score anywhere between 0 (abnormal) and 2 (normal) They are all added up to get the total score out of 10.
Suppose the ultrasound show no cause for worry, the doctor may not advise a non-stress test. But if the scores of amniotic fluid result to a zero, more testing is immediately required and even immediate delivery may be recommended although all other scores are normal.
A biophysical profile test normally is considered to be quite safe in every sense of the word. There are very rare chances of any kind of risk either to the fetus or the mom with this test. Lengthy periods of ultrasound are the only cause for concern.
However, abnormal scores tend to make you worried and anxious. And there is every chance that an existing abnormality may go undetected in this test. There have also been cases where this test revealed a problem when actually everything was perfectly normal.
There are some reasons that may affect the test result, or make it difficult to conduct the test itself. Some of them include:
Thus a biophysical profile is a very common test that is normally done to ensure fetal well-being towards the final stage of pregnancy and on the whole, is perfectly safe to perform so that you get to know about how healthy and fine your pregnancy is.
Did you get a biophysical test done during your pregnancy? Please do share your experiences in the comments section below.
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