OBJECTIVES To develop a computerized algorithm to quantify fetal heart rate (FHR) variability and compare it to perinatologists' interpretation of FHR variability. METHODS FHR variability was calculated using data from 30 women who had a fetal scalp electrode placed for a clinical indication, and compared to the assessment of FHR variability from four perinatologists who interpreted paper tra...

Intrapartum fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring constitutes a reference tool in clinical practice to assess the baby’s health status and to detect fetal acidosis. It is usually analyzed by visual inspection grounded on FIGO criteria. Characterization of intrapartum fetal heart rate temporal dynamics remains a challenging task and continuously receives academic research efforts. Complexity measure...

Objective To assess the possibility to diagnose placental insufficiency and metabolic acidosis by analysing the fetal heart rate (FHR) variability by using non-linear methods; symbolic dynamics or traditional linear stochastic theory. Study design The recorded FHR signal sets from the last hour of delivery in 21 live born fetuses were analysed. The complexity of the FHR variability was describe...

Fetal heart rate (FHR) sampling rate used on the bedside is equal or less than 4 Hz. Current FHR analysis methods fail to detect incipient fetal acidemia. In a fetal sheep model of human labour we showed that FHR sampling rates near 1000 Hz are needed to detect fetal acidemia. Trans-abdominal fetal ECG (t-a fECG) sampling FHR at 900 Hz combined with a complex signals bioinformatics approach sho...

The aim of this study is to investigate that fetal heart rates (fHR) extracted from fetal phonocardiography (fPCG) could convey similar information of fHR from cardiotocography (CTG). Four-channel fPCG sensors made of low cost (<$1) ceramic piezo vibration sensor within 3D-printed casings were used to collect abdominal phonogram signals from 20 pregnant mothers (>34 weeks of gestation). A novel...

The aim of the present study is to obtain a highly objective automatic fetal heart rate (FHR) diagnosis. The neural network software was composed of three layers with the back propagation, to which 8 FHR data, including sinusoidal FHR, were input and the system was educated by the data of 20 cases with a known outcome. The output was the probability of a normal, intermediate, or pathologic outc...

Cardiotocography (CTG) is a standard tool for the assessment of fetal well-being during pregnancy and delivery. However, its interpretation is associated with high inter- and intra-observer variability. Since its introduction there have been numerous attempts to develop computerized systems assisting the evaluation of the CTG recording. Nevertheless these systems are still hardly used in a deli...

In fetal sheep, the electrocorticogram (ECOG) recorded directly from the cortex during repetitive heart rate (FHR) decelerations induced by umbilical cord occlusions (UCO) predictably correlates with worsening hypoxic-acidemia. In human fetal monitoring during labor, the equivalent electroencephalogram (EEG) can be recorded noninvasively from the scalp. We tested the hypothesis that combined fe...

Subclinical (shallow) heart rate decelerations occur during neonatal sepsis, but there is limited information on their relationship with hypotension or whether they occur before birth. We examined whether subclinical decelerations, a fall in fetal heart rate (FHR) that remained above 100 bpm, were associated with hypotension in preterm fetal sheep exposed to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Chronicall...

Intrapartum electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) is widely used throughout the developed and developing world. This practice is based on the understanding that fetal heart rate (FHR) is sensitive to hypoxia. During labour, the fetus may be exposed to acute hypoxia during uterine contractions or intrapartum insults, and has well-established cardiovascular compensatory defence mechanisms, which idea...