Postdates and Antenatal Testing

The standard definition of a prolonged pregnancy is 42 completed weeks of gestation. The incidence of prolonged pregnancy varies depending on the criteria used to define gestational age at birth. It is estimated that 4 to 19% of pregnancies reach or exceed 42 weeks gestation. Several studies that have used very large computerized databases of well-dated pregnancies provided insights into the incidence and nature of adverse perinatal outcome such as an increased fetal and neonatal mortality as well as increased fetal and maternal morbidity in prolonged pregnancy. Fetal surveillance may be used in an attempt to observe the prolonged pregnancy while awaiting the onset of spontaneous labor. This article reviews the different methodologies and protocols for fetal surveillance in prolonged pregnancies. On the one hand, false-positive tests commonly lead to unnecessary interventions that are potentially hazardous to the gravida. On the other hand, to date, no program of fetal testing has been shown to completely eliminate the risk of stillbirth.