Adaptive filter application in fetal electrocardiography

A hybrid adaptive algorithm for canceling the maternal electrocardiogram (MECG) component in abdominal fetal electrocardiography (FECG) is described. Three limb (1,2,3) lead ECG recordings and one abdominal ECG recording are taken from 6 pregnant women. The three limb ECG recordings are orthogonalized through the Gram-Schmidt procedure, and are input to a multichannel adaptive filter. After processing by the adaptive algorithm, these three orthogonal ECG recordings will be put together to simulate the MECG component in the abdominal FECG. The ideal output of the hybrid adaptive filter will be an MECG-component-free fetal ECG signal, which can provide valuable clinical data to the obstetrician