Computerized Cardiotocography Analysis During Labor - A State-of-the-Art Review

Abstract

(Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2023;102:130–137) Cardiotocography (CTG) is commonly used to screen for fetal wellbeing during pregnancy by recording fetal heart rate (FHR) and uterine contractions. CTG is also used during delivery to detect and manage fetal hypoxia. Since its introduction in the 1960s, CTG signal interpretation by providers continues to have significant intraobserver and interobserver variability, and CTG monitoring benefits are questioned compared to simpler methods. Now, computer-aided systems automatically process the CTG signals. This review analyzes computerized CTG, particularly recently published research using approaches taken by machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) in recent years.