Noninvasive Recording of True-to-Form Fetal ECG during the Third Trimester of Pregnancy

Abstract

Objective. The aim of the study was to develop a complex electrophysiological measurement system (hardware and software) which uses the methods of electrophysiology and provides significant information about the intrauterine status of the fetus, intending to obtain true-to-form, morphologically evaluated fetal ECG from transabdominal maternal lead. Results. The present method contains many novel ideas that allow creating true-to-form noninvasive fetal ECG in the third trimester of the pregnancy in 80% of the cases. Such ideas are the telemetric data collection, the “cleanse” of the real time recording from the maternal ECG, and the use of the cardiotocograph (CTG) that allows identifying the fetal heart events. The advantage of this developed system is that it does not require any qualified staff, because both the extraction of the information from the abdominal recording and the processing of the data are automatic. Discussion. Although the idea of a noninvasive fetal electrocardiography is more than 100 years old still there is no simple, effective, and cheap method available that would enable an extensive use. This developed system can be used in the third trimester of the pregnancy efficiently. It can produce true-to-form fetal ECGs with amplitude less than 10 µV.

New Validated Signal-averaging-based Electrocardiography Method to Determine His-ventricle Interval

“…The electric activity of the heart wirelessly transferred to the computer is signal-averaged and evaluated by the "ECG Micropotential Analyzer" software developed by István Péterfi (25). A modified version of this software was earlier used to register and analyze fetal ECG during the third trimester of pregnancy (25).…”

“…A modified version of this software was earlier used to register and analyze fetal ECG during the third trimester of pregnancy (25). The received ECG has a bandwidth of 0.25 Hz to 1,500 Hz.…”

A magzatok intrapartum monitorizálásának lehetőségei elhízott várandósokban

“…Klinikai alkalmazása 4-5 éve kezdődött az Amerikai Egyesült Államokban, egyelőre korlátozott a hozzáférhetősége. Magyar munkacsoport is fejlesztett olyan rendszert, amely képes noninvazív módon alakhű magzati EKG regisztrálására [34].…”

Consistent reconstruction of 4D fetal heart ultrasound images to cope with fetal motion

“…For instance, adult cardiac 4D MR reconstruction is supported by ECG and respiratory signals [11]. However, these signals cannot be reliably extracted for fetus [12] and HR estimation directly from the US images avoids changing clinical practice. For fetal cardiac MRI, such self-gating has been based on optimizing the time-entropy image metric and assumes a piecewise-constant heart rate [5].…”