Extraction of Fetal Heart Rate from Maternal ECG—Non Invasive Approach for Continuous Monitoring during Labor

Here, we propose a signal processing based approach for the extraction of the fetal heart rate (FHR) from Maternal Abdominal ECG (MAECG) in a non-invasive way. Datasets from a Physionet database has been used in this study for evaluating the performance of the proposed model that performs three major tasks; preprocessing of the MAECG signal, separation of Fetal QRS complexes from that of maternal and estimation of Fetal R peak positions. The MAECG signal is first preprocessed with improved multistep filtering techniques to detect the Maternal QRS (MQRS) complexes, which are dominant in the MAECG. A reference template is then reconstructed based on MQRS locations and removed from the preprocessed signal resulting in the raw FECG. This extracted FECG is further corrected and enhanced before obtaining the Fetal R peaks. The detection of FQRS and calculation of FHR has been compared against the reference Fetal Scalp ECG. Results indicate that the approach achieved good accuracy.

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Non-Invasive Fetal Electrocardiogram Monitoring Techniques: Potential and Future Research Opportunities in Smart Textiles

Signals ◽

10.3390/signals2030025 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 392-412

Author(s):

Geetika Aggarwal ◽

Yang Wei

Keyword(s):

Heart Rate ◽

Fetal Heart Rate ◽

Fetal Heart ◽

Skin Penetration ◽

Future Research ◽

Fetal Electrocardiogram ◽

Smart Textiles ◽

Non Invasive ◽

Future Research Directions ◽

Electrocardiogram Monitoring

During the pregnancy, fetal electrocardiogram (FECG) is deployed to analyze fetal heart rate (FHR) of the fetus to indicate the growth and health of the fetus to determine any abnormalities and prevent diseases. The fetal electrocardiogram monitoring can be carried out either invasively by placing the electrodes on the scalp of the fetus, involving the skin penetration and the risk of infection, or non-invasively by recording the fetal heart rate signal from the mother’s abdomen through a placement of electrodes deploying portable, wearable devices. Non-invasive fetal electrocardiogram (NIFECG) is an evolving technology in fetal surveillance because of the comfort to the pregnant women and being achieved remotely, specifically in the unprecedented circumstances such as pandemic or COVID-19. Textiles have been at the heart of human technological progress for thousands of years, with textile developments closely tied to key inventions that have shaped societies. The relatively recent invention of smart textiles is set to push boundaries again and has already opened the potential for garments relevant to medicine, and health monitoring. This paper aims to discuss the different technologies and methods used in non-invasive fetal electrocardiogram (NIFECG) monitoring as well as the potential and future research directions of NIFECG in the smart textiles area.

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An advanced algorithm for fetal heart rate estimation from non-invasive low electrode density recordings

Physiological Measurement ◽

10.1088/0967-3334/35/8/1621 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 35 (8) ◽

pp. 1621-1636 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Alessia Dessì ◽

Danilo Pani ◽

Luigi Raffo

Keyword(s):

Heart Rate ◽

Fetal Heart Rate ◽

Fetal Heart ◽

Rate Estimation ◽

Non Invasive ◽

Advanced Algorithm ◽

Heart Rate Estimation

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Non-invasive Fetal Electrocardiography for Intrapartum Cardiotocography

Frontiers in Pediatrics ◽

10.3389/fped.2020.599049 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Rik Vullings ◽

Judith O. E. H. van Laar

Keyword(s):

Heart Rate ◽

Doppler Ultrasound ◽

Fetal Heart Rate ◽

Fetal Heart ◽

Fetal Monitoring ◽

Irreversible Damage ◽

Scalp Electrode ◽

Non Invasive ◽

Electrophysiological Measurements ◽

Fetal Electrocardiography

Fetal monitoring is important to diagnose complications that can occur during pregnancy. If detected timely, these complications might be resolved before they lead to irreversible damage. Current fetal monitoring mainly relies on cardiotocography, the simultaneous registration of fetal heart rate and uterine activity. Unfortunately, the technology to obtain the cardiotocogram has limitations. In current clinical practice the fetal heart rate is obtained via either an invasive scalp electrode, that poses risks and can only be applied during labor and after rupture of the fetal membranes, or via non-invasive Doppler ultrasound technology that is inaccurate and suffers from loss of signal, in particular in women with high body mass, during motion, or in preterm pregnancies. In this study, transabdominal electrophysiological measurements are exploited to provide fetal heart rate non-invasively and in a more reliable manner than Doppler ultrasound. The performance of the fetal heart rate detection is determined by comparing the fetal heart rate to that obtained with an invasive scalp electrode during intrapartum monitoring. The performance is gauged by comparing it to performances mentioned in literature on Doppler ultrasound and on two commercially-available devices that are also based on transabdominal fetal electrocardiography.

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