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Am J Perinatol 1987; 4(2): 98-101
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-999748
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

© 1987 by Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.

Intrapartum Fetal Heart Rate Patterns and Neonatal Intraventricular Hemorrhage

William F. Rayburn, Mary Z. Johnson, Kristen L. Hoffman, Steven M. Donn, Robert M. Nelson Jr. 
  • The Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Michigan Medical School and University of Nebraska College of Medicine and the Division of Newborn Services, Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan and University of Nebraska College of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska
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Publication Date:
04 March 2008 (online)

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ABSTRACT

A goal for the obstetrician and neonatologist is to screen for risk factors associated with intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) in the low-birthweight infant. Perinatal events that lead to neonatal metabolic and cardiovascular derangements seem to provoke IVH, and conflicting reports have implicated labor as being contributory. A fetal heart rate (FHR) abnormality during premature labor may be a predictor of subsequent neonatal IVH. For this reason, 5 years of FHR tracings at two university medical centers were reviewed for inborn infants who were delivered after premature labor and weighed ≤ 2000 gm. Sixty-four infants developed IVH, but pre-existing labor with a discernible FHR pattern was recorded in only 38 (59%) cases. Interpretations were reassuring in 17 (45%) cases, suspicious in 7 (18%) cases, and ominous in 14 (37%) cases. This proportion of FHR patterns was not significantly different from a matched group of premature infants without IVH during the same period. Interpretations of intrapartum FHR patterns of low-birthweight infants are limited, especially before 30 weeks gestation, and not useful in predicting neonatal IVH.