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Am J Perinatol 1989; 6(3): 356-359
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-999614
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

© 1989 by Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.

Heart Rate Patterns and Fetal Sepsis

Joan Youchah, Cynthia Chazotte, Wayne R. Cohen
  • Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and the Bronx Municipal Hospital Center, Bronx, New York
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Publication Date:
04 March 2008 (online)

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ABSTRACT

Fetal heart rate patterns from 15 cases of in utero bacterial fetal sepsis were reviewed. All patterns contained some abnormality, the most common being persistent tachycardia. Ninety-three percent of fetuses had periodic decelerations, which were either late or variable in nature. Neither maternal fever nor fetal tachycardia was invariably present during fetal infection. Although fetal sepsis was associated frequently with fetal heart rate pattern aberrations, no specific pattern was identified that was consistently or uniquely related to infection.