Low-complexity intrauterine pressure monitoring by Teager energy estimation

Abstract

Monitoring the progression of maternal uterine activity provides important prognostic information during pregnancy and parturition. Currently used methods, however, are unsuitable for long-term observation of uterine activity. The abdominally measured electrohysterogram (EHG) provides a non-invasive alternative to the existing methods for long-term ambulatory uterine contraction monitoring. A new EHG signal analysis method for intrauterine pressure (IUP) estimation based on the Teager energy estimate is proposed. The new method is compared to existing methods from the literature in terms of estimation accuracy and computational complexity. An accurate IUP estimate, with a complexity up to 40 times lower than that of algorithms from the literature is obtained. Therefore, the proposed method offers a valuable new option for long-term uterine monitoring.