Incorporating of the new pulse oximetry feature into computer-aided fetal monitoring system requires a lot of modifications in hardware and software structure of the system. Since these modifications are fairly time-consuming, such a solution would be impracticable during preliminary testing and evaluation phases of new medical instrument. Therefore, at first we decided to build a prototype sys...

INTRODUCTION Intrapartum fetal monitoring is essential for the identification of fetal hypoxia to reduce perinatal morbidity and mortality. Cardiotocography is associated with low specificity for fetal acidosis and poor perinatal outcome leading to unnecessary operative deliveries. ST waveform analysis of the fetal electrocardiogram has been shown to be a promising adjunctive intrapartum assess...

BACKGROUND Current recommendations do not support the use of continuous electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) for low risk women during labour, yet EFM remains widespread in clinical practice. Consideration of the views, perspectives and experiences of individuals directly concerned with EFM application may be beneficial for identifying barriers to and facilitators for implementing evidence-based m...

BACKGROUND Research-informed fetal monitoring guidelines recommend intermittent auscultation (IA) for fetal heart monitoring for low-risk women. However, the use of cardiotocography (CTG) continues to dominate many institutional maternity settings. METHODS A mixed methods intervention study with before and after measurement was undertaken in one secondary level health service to facilitate th...

BACKGROUND Severe fetal acidemia during labour with arterial pH below 7.00 is associated with increased risk of hypoxic-ischemic brain injury. Electronic fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring, the mainstay of intrapartum surveillance, has poor specificity for detecting fetal acidemia. We studied brain electrical activity measured with electrocorticogram (ECOG) in the near term ovine fetus subjected...

Objective: We tested if fetal pulse oximetry in addition to electronic fetal monitoring (CTG) and scalp blood sampling improves the accuracy of fetal assessment and allows safe reduction of operative deliveries ( 50%) and scalp blood sampling ( 50%) performed because of nonreassuring fetal status. Study design: A randomized controlled trial was conducted in 146 patients with term pregnancies in...

BACKGROUND Complete atrioventricular block in fetuses is known to be mostly associated with autoimmune disease and can be irreversible if no steroids treatment is provided. Conventional methods used in clinical practice for diagnosing fetal arrhythmia are limited since they do not reflect the primary electrophysiological conduction processes that take place in the myocardium. The non-invasive f...

BACKGROUND Continuous electronic fetal heart rate monitoring in labour is widely used but its potential for improving fetal and neonatal outcomes has not been realised. The most likely reason is the difficulty of interpreting the fetal heart rate trace correctly during labour. Computerised interpretation of the fetal heart rate and intelligent decision-support has the potential to deliver this ...

Fetal electrocardiogram (Fetal ECG) extraction is an interesting as well as a difficult problem in signal processing. The original FECG signal is nevertheless very complex and severely contaminated by external disturbances or noises. Identification of these cases during early pregnancy reduces risks by timely treatment or planned delivery. This paper presents simulation results of fetal ECG sig...