The accuracy of abdominal ECG for fetal electronic monitoring

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Abstract
To allow calculation of the beat-to-beat variability in fetal electrocardiography the trigger signal must be of good quality. To investigate the quality of abdominal fetal ECG (aFECG), and compare the short-term and long-term variability registered by this method with direct fetal ECG (dFECG), 3 cardiographs, aFECG, dFECG and maternal ECG, were registered simultaneously and stored on a magnetic tape. After analog-digital conversion, the information was calculated in a computer system. The variability registered by aFECG and dFECG was compared, allowing a difference of 1 and 2 beats/min. From 9 patients in early labor, 30,651 heart beats were registered by dFECG. By aFECG, 27,720 beats were registered. Within a window of .+-. 10 ms, 98.5% of all pulses registered by aFECG were found. The .apprx. for short-term variability as 0.75 and 0.91. For long-term variability, was 0.94 and 0.98. To allow calculations of the short-term variability, the registration of the instantaneous fetal heart rate is necessary. In the antenatal period only indirect methods for ECG are possible. The short-term and long-term variability can be judged with abdominal ECG. The quality of the registrations is good enough to allow computer calculations of the information.

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