Contraction stress testing with mammary self-stimulation.

One hundred fifty-six women with high-risk pregnancies performed mammary self-stimulation 256 times in an attempt to induce uterine contractions that would meet contraction-stress-test criteria. One hundred forty-nine, or 57%, of the attempts resulted in contractions of adequate duration and frequency to satisfy those criteria. Patient acceptance of the procedure was very high; only one patient refused to participate. Performing a contraction stress test through mammary self-stimulation was found to shorten the time that successful patients stayed in the testing area and eliminated the need for an intravenous oxytocin challenge test.