BACKGROUND Continuous electronic fetal heart rate monitoring in labour is widely used but its potential for improving fetal and neonatal outcomes has not been realised. The most likely reason is the difficulty of interpreting the fetal heart rate trace correctly during labour. Computerised interpretation of the fetal heart rate and intelligent decision-support has the potential to deliver this ...

Computerized analysis of the fetal electrocardiogram has been developed during the past 40 years. A mature system for ST analysis (STAN) has resulted from a series of laboratory and clinical studies. The current STAN system provides adjunctive information to the standard interpretation of fetal heart rate (FHR) patterns. This monograph describes the basis for the STAN methodology, including the...

Electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) has been used for four decades, after its introduction without clinical trials. EFM spawned a birth injury litigation crisis centered on the myth that it predicts cerebral palsy (CP). The myth has resulted in lottery-like judgments against physicians. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and sister organizations worldwide have the pow...

BACKGROUND Animal and human studies have shown that fetal hypoxaemia during labour can alter the shape of the fetal electrocardiogram (ECG) waveform, notably (1) the relation of the PR to RR intervals and (2) elevation or depression of the ST segment. Technical systems have therefore been developed to monitor the fetal ECG during labour as an adjunct to continuous electronic fetal heart rate mo...

INTRODUCTION Intrapartum fetal monitoring is essential for the identification of fetal hypoxia to reduce perinatal morbidity and mortality. Cardiotocography is associated with low specificity for fetal acidosis and poor perinatal outcome leading to unnecessary operative deliveries. ST waveform analysis of the fetal electrocardiogram has been shown to be a promising adjunctive intrapartum assess...

In 1999, a highly publicized report from the Institute of Medicine identified major deficiencies in the United States health care system, which fueled the rapid growth of the modern patient safety movement. One of the greatest risks to patient safety in obstetrics is poor communication of electronic fetal heart rate monitoring findings. Standardization and elimination of unnecessary complexity ...