Real-time intrapartum fetal ECG analysis

Author

Crittenden, M.E. ; Crowe, J.A. ; Hayes-Gill, B.R.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Electron. Eng., Nottingham Univ., UK

Volume

1

fYear

1996

fDate

31 Oct-3 Nov 1996

Firstpage

49

Abstract

During labour, it is believed that the fetal electrocardiogram (FECG) provides a more accurate indication of fetal distress, than monitoring fetal heart rate alone. For this reason, a real-time FECG analysis system has been built with the versatility of displaying a choice of parameters. The system obtains the scalp-clip derived FECG from a commercially available CTG monitor (provided by Oxford Instruments). The digitised data is then sent via an optical serial link to a PC, on which a Windows program performs the analysis. To validate the full system, a software FECG simulator with digital and analogue output has been produced. In addition, a theoretical analysis of the frequency content of the FECG has been performed, to ensure that the necessary front-end signal-conditioning leaves the FECG undistorted

Keywords

electrocardiography; medical signal processing; Oxford Instruments; Windows program; analogue output; digital output; digitised data; electrodiagnostics; fetal distress indication; fetal heart rate monitoring; front-end signal-conditioning; optical serial link; real-time intrapartum fetal ECG analysis; scalp-clip derived fetal ECG; undistorted ECG; Electrocardiography; Fetal heart rate; Frequency; Heart rate measurement; Instruments; Monitoring; Performance analysis; Real time systems; Signal analysis; Software systems;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 1996. Bridging Disciplines for Biomedicine. Proceedings of the 18th Annual International Conference of the IEEE

Conference_Location

Amsterdam

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3811-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IEMBS.1996.656840

Filename

656840