Fetal behavioural patterns were examined to test whether they could be used to localise sites of brain damage antenatally. Decreased fetal movement, persistent nonreactive fetal heart rate (FHR) pattern, and/or central nervous system malformation were used as indicators of possible neurological impairment. Ten fetuses tested in this way underwent further ultrasound examination observing movemen...

Elevation in placental corticotropin-releasing hormone (pCRH) during the last trimester of pregnancy has been associated with an increased risk for preterm delivery. Less is known about the consequences for the human fetus exposed to high levels of pCRH early in pregnancy. pCRH levels were measured in 138 pregnant women at least once at 15, 20 and 25 weeks of gestation. At 25 weeks of gestation...

OBJECTIVE To compare a novel computerized analysis program with visual cardiotocography (CTG) interpretation results. METHODS Sixty-two intrapartum CTG tracings with 20- to 30-minute sections were independently interpreted using a novel computerized analysis program, as well as the visual interpretations of eight obstetricians, to evaluate the baseline fetal heart rate (FHR), baseline FHR var...

The fetal heart rate (FHR) is regulated by the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and changes in FHR are related to changes in autonomic regulation. Valuable information about fetal distress during labor could thus be obtained from analysis of FHR variability. To monitor changes in sympathetic and parasympathetic activity of the ANS, spectral analysis can be used [1]. However, spectral analysis is ...

OBJECTIVE Recent recommendations called for obstetricians to abandon the terms of "hyperstimulation" and "hypercontractility" in favor of the more rigidly defined term, "tachysystole" (TS). The aim of the current study is to describe incidence of and risk factors for TS, describe fetal heart rate (FHR) changes associated with TS, and investigate maternal and neonatal outcomes associated with TS...

This paper focuses on the design, realization, and verification of a novel phonocardiographic- based fiber-optic sensor and adaptive signal processing system for noninvasive continuous fetal heart rate (fHR) monitoring. Our proposed system utilizes two Mach-Zehnder interferometeric sensors. Based on the analysis of real measurement data, we developed a simplified dynamic model for the generatio...

OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to evaluate the accuracy of computer analysis of fetal heart rate (FHR) and ST event signals in prediction of neonatal acidemia. STUDY DESIGN One hundred forty-eight FHR tracings were evaluated to identify red alerts provided by the system, based on automated analysis of FHR and ST event signals, and compared with the occurrence of umbilical artery aci...

In this study we present a noninvasive method that enables the investigations of the fetal heart rate (FHR) fluctuations. The system is designed to measure the fetal heart rate variability for the evaluation of autonomic nervous system (ANS) and to investigate its development as a function of the gestational age and body mass index (BMI). Our Medical Engineering group has designed & developed a...

Entropy and compression have been used to distinguish fetuses at risk of hypoxia from their healthy counterparts through the analysis of Fetal Heart Rate (FHR). Low correlation that was observed between these two approaches suggests that they capture different complexity features. This study aims at characterizing the complexity of FHR features captured by entropy and compression, using as refe...

Sympathetic nervous system (SNS)-mediated peripheral vasoconstriction plays a key role in initial maintenance of blood pressure during rapid-onset asphyxia in the mammalian fetus, but it is attenuated after the first few minutes. It is unclear whether the SNS response is sustained during the brief, but frequently repeated, episodes of asphyxia characteristic of labor. In the present study, 14 f...