The identification of high-risk pregnancies that would benefit from the use of electronic fetal monitoring during labour remains an important research issue. In this issue of The Lancet, Lawrence Impey and colleagues report the results of a randomised controlled trial that assessed the efficacy of admission cardiotocography for 8580 low-risk women in labour as measured by reductions in the rate...

A continuous electronic fetal monitoring (efm) reduces the risk of neonatal seizure by 50% compared with intermittent auscultation (IA) (strength of recommendation [SOR]: A, systematic review of randomized controlled trials [RCTs]). EFM increases the incidence of cesarean section by 66% and the incidence of operative vaginal delivery by 16% (SOR: A, systematic review of RCTs). It has no effect ...

Methods for handling imprecision and uncertainty in computer-based analysis of fetal heart rate patterns and ECG wave shape during childbirth are presented. Computational intelligence models, based on fuzzy logic techniques, that explicitly handle the imprecision and uncertainty inherent in the data obtained during childbirth and methods of interpreting the data are proposed. The ability to han...

Medical devices and diagnostic imaging procedures such as ultrasound, X-rays, and electronic fetal monitoring devices are used in the medical care of many pregnant women today. The responsibility for the safety and effectiveness of these diagnostic technologies is shared by a number of Public Health Service agencies, one of which is the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), a unit ...

The purpose of the National Institutes of Health research planning workshops is to assess the research status of clinically important areas. This article reports on a workshop whose meetings were held between May 1995 and November 1996 in Bethesda, Maryland, and Chicago, Illinois. Its specific purpose was to develop standardized and unambiguous definitions for fetal heart rate tracings. The rec...