Renewed warning over home foetal heart monitors

[Posted: Sat 07/11/2009 by Olivia Fens]

Doctors are again warning expectant parents not to use over the counter foetal heart monitors (doppler devices) at home because they can lead to false reassurance and delays in seeking medical help.

UK doctors from the Princess Royal Hospital in Sussex described the case of a 34-year-old woman who presented to the labour ward unable to detect her baby’s heartbeat with her foetal heart monitor. She was 38 weeks pregnant with her first baby and was fit and well, with no medical history.

The previous Friday she had noticed a reduction in her baby’s movements but had reassured herself by listening to the ‘foetal’ heartbeat over the weekend. However, an urgent ultrasound scan showed no foetal heart activity and intrauterine death was diagnosed.

This is the second case published in the British Medical Journal this year, and highlights the tragic consequences these devices can have in untrained hands, the researchers said.

The doppler machines enable pregnant women to hear the heartbeat and movement of their unborn child, from about the twelfth week of pregnancy. But the researchers said in untrained hands it is more likely that blood flow through the placenta or the mother’s own pulse will be heard.

“This death may have been unavoidable, but the use of a foetal heart monitor certainly delayed presentation to hospital,” the researchers added.

They warned that monitors are for entertainment purposes only and can be dangerous if used otherwise, and they call on manufacturers and retailers to make the limitations of these devices absolutely clear.