The maternal ECG suppression algorithm for efficient extraction of the fetal ECG from abdominal signal.

At present, noninvasive recording of abdominal fetal electrocardiogram and analysis of the fetal heart rate variability seems to be the most promising method to detect the fetal hypoxia. The main problem is to obtain a good quality fetal ECG, which is strongly distorted by maternal component of dominating energy. The paper presents the new method of maternal electrocardiogram recognition and suppression relying on determination of template maternal PQRST complex and its subtraction during consecutive maternal cardiac cycles. The efficiency of the developed method was evaluated and related to three other selected methods for maternal ECG suppression using dedicated coefficients created for this comparison.

Evaluation of fetal heart rate baseline estimation method using testing signals based on a statistical model.

Computer-aided fetal monitoring is based on automated analysis of the fetal heart rate (FHR) variability. The first and the main step in the automated signal interpretation is the estimation of the so called FHR baseline. There are various algorithms for baseline estimation, of different efficiency. For its evaluation, the method of modeling of FHR signal based on the preset baseline component has been developed. The best algorithm is expected to provide the same baseline as the component baseline used to model the FHR signal. Generated signals were used to compare the baselines that have been estimated by two algorithms: the first one relying on artificial neural networks and the classical one using nonlinear filtering of FHR signal.

Fetal monitoring based on bioelectrical signals from maternal abdomen

Conventional fetal monitoring to evaluate fetal state is based on ultrasound Doppler technique. A new approach proposed in this work relies on analysis of bioelectrical signals recorded from maternal abdominal...

Using of a simple method of maternal ECG processing for fetal heart rate determination

Signals of electrical activity being recorded from maternal abdominal surface contain more information than currently used mechanical heart activity measurement based on ultrasound signals...