Abstract
Continuous monitoring of fetal heart rate (FHR) can detect the well-being of the fetus and thus indicates non-reassuring fetal status. In- vasive fetal electrocardiography (FECG) using the fetal scalp electrode applied to the fetus scalp allows accurate detection of fetal QRS (FQRS) complexes, however with a risk of infection to the fetus. We have proposed a non-invasive fetal heart rate (NIFHR) filtering technique employing finite impulse response (FIR) filters. We applied Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to the Physionet abdominal ECG (aECG) records and derived the fiduciary edges of the spectrum of the FECG. A FIR band pass filter (BPF) is designed which is a com- posite filter consisting of a high pass filter (HPF) followed by a low pass filter (LPF) in that order. The cut off frequencies of these com- posite filters are the fiduciary edges of the fetal electrocardiography spectrum. A FQRS detector to obtain fetal heart rate variability (FHRV) processes the FQRS signal filtered through these composite FIR filters. It is observed that channel 4 from records r01 and r08 obtained 100% results for sensitivity, positive predictive value and accuracy while, the overall accuracy was 92.21%. This design can also be extended to compute maternal heart rate.
Highlights
Five years later after Einthoven first discovered an electrical activity in a human heart, Cremer identified fetal electrocardiograph (FECG) from the abdominal and vaginal set of electrodes
A finite impulse response (FIR) band pass filter (BPF) is designed which is a composite filter consisting of a high pass filter (HPF) followed by a low pass filter (LPF) in that order
A fetal QRS (FQRS) detector to obtain fetal heart rate variability (FHRV) processes the FQRS signal filtered through these composite FIR filters
Summary
Five years later after Einthoven first discovered an electrical activity in a human heart, Cremer identified fetal electrocardiograph (FECG) from the abdominal and vaginal set of electrodes. The various non-reassuring patterns seen on a CTG to indicate such fetal distress are increased or decreased fetal heart rates especially during and after a contraction, decreased variabil- ity in FHR and late decelerations. Invasive FECG using the scalp electrode applied to the fetal scalp allows easy detection of fetal QRS complexes. These signals have much larger amplitudes than abdominally obtained signals. Some methods for extracting NIFECG need prior infor- mation for extraction, others need signals from many leads and some require recording from the mother’s thoracic area These methods require electrodes to be placed all over the mother’s body and thoracic area, making it inconvenient in non-clinical environ- ments such as the maternal home care monitors [8]. A singlelead configuration is helpful for implementa- tion in a mini health care unit, making it suitable for ambulatory and long-term monitoring. [9]
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