Noninvasive FECG for estimating the fetal heart rate
Cargando...
Fecha
2013-10-24
Enlace al recurso
ORCID
Google Scholar
Cvlac
gruplac
Descripción Dominio:
Título de la revista
ISSN de la revista
Título del volumen
Editor
Compartir
Documentos PDF
Abstract
Decelerations of fetal heart rate have been known to
be associated with fetal distress. Continuous fetal heart rate
monitoring was expected to result in dramatic reduction of
undiagnosed fetal hypoxia, but the outputs of FHR monitors
were often unreliable and difficult to interpret, resulting in
increased rates of caesarean deliveries of healthy infants.
The most accurate method for measuring FHR is direct fetal
electrocardiographic monitoring using a fetal scalp electrode.
This is possible only in labor, however, and is not common in
current clinical practice because of its associated risks.
Noninvasive FECG monitoring makes use of electrodes placed on
the mother's abdomen. This method can be used throughout the
second half of pregnancy and is of negligible risk. However, it is
often difficult to detect the fetal QRS complexes in ECG signals
obtained in this way, since the maternal ECG is usually of
greater amplitude in them. Other features of the direct fetal
ECG, such as FHR variability, may be useful independent
indicators of fetal status. There are no accepted techniques for
assessing such features from noninvasive FECG, however.
This paper describes a method for locating QRS complex in
noninvasive FECG, using techniques based on MECG
cancellation, and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The
proposed method locates the fetal QRS complexes with efficiency
above 80%.