Best Way to Treat Preterm Labor with Tocolytics

The results from your nonstress test and sonogram make up your baby’s biophysical profile (BPP). This profile looks at the heart rate, muscle tone, movement, ability, and frequency of breathing movements or chest wall movement, and amount of fluid in the amniotic sac sur­rounding the baby. The information is translated into points, mean­ing each measurement has a score on a scale of zero to 10. A healthy BPP is a number between 8 and 10. If the score is below 8, the test is usually repeated at a different time of day. A baby’s slow responses could be from his or her taking a nap when the test was performed. The profile is repeated to rule this out.

The BPP tells the doctor how your baby is doing at that moment and also how well developed he or she is at this point. If your baby needs to be delivered early, your doctor will have a good idea of how well your baby will do after birth.

Diagnosis

When all of the samples have been gathered, tests started, and your condition stabilized, you and your partner will meet with your doctor or the specialist assigned to care for you and your unborn baby. You will get an initial explanation of the situation and the doctor’s rec­ommendations for treatment.

Tocolytics

Many physicians treat preterm labor contractions with a medication group called tocolytics (pronounced “to-co-lit-icks”). These are med­ications used to try to stop preterm labor from progressing by stopping the uterus from contracting. There are many different types of tocolyt­ics, and all act a little differently on your body. However, all of them interact with chemicals in the body, particularly calcium, to relax the uterine muscle. Calcium is needed for muscles to contract. When cal­cium is blocked or rendered inert, the muscles—particularly the uter­ine muscle—cannot contract.

There’s a great deal of study and debate on the effectiveness of tocolytics. Research has shown that they seem to work best when administered soon after preterm labor symptoms start and for short periods of time. Halting or slowing contractions gains the physi­cian time to administer glucocorticoids, also called glucocortico-steroids, ot corticosteroids. These steroids are used to speed the development of the baby’s lungs and other organs. Tocolytics, are important both in delaying a Preterm delivery for as long as possible, allowing the baby more time in the womb, and providing time for these important steroids to take effect.