Vibroacoustic stimulation (VAS), sometimes referred to as fetal vibroacoustic stimulation or fetal acoustic stimulation test (FAST), is the application of a vibratory sound stimulus to the

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the to ...

of a

pregnant Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops ( gestates) inside a woman's uterus (womb). A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Pregnancy usually occurs by sexual intercourse, but ca ...

woman to induce FHR (fetal heart rate) accelerations. The presence of FHR accelerations reliably predicts the absence of fetal metabolic acidemia. Vibroacoustic stimulation is typically used during a nonstress test (NST). In 2013, the

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews The Cochrane Library (named after Archie Cochrane) is a collection of databases in medicine and other healthcare specialties provided by Cochrane and other organizations. At its core is the collection of Cochrane Reviews, a database of systemat ...

concluded that there was insufficient evidence from randomized trials to support its use to assess

fetal A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal develo ...

well-being in labor. A related Cochrane Review, however, concluded that its use in antenatal testing did reduce the incidence of non-reactive cardiotocography and the overall testing time.

References

Tests during pregnancy {{Med-diagnostic-stub