A Non-invasive Methodology for Fetal Monitoring during Pregnancy

E. C. Karvounis; M. G. Tsipouras; C. Papaloukas; D. G. Tsalikakis; K. K. Naka; D. I. Fotiadis

doi:10.3414/ME09-01-0041

Methods of Information in Medicine, Table of Contents

Methods Inf Med 2010; 49(03): 238-253
DOI: 10.3414/ME09-01-0041

Original Articles

Schattauer GmbH

A Non-invasive Methodology for Fetal Monitoring during Pregnancy

E. C. Karvounis

¹Unit of Medical Technology and Intelligent Information Systems, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece

,

M. G. Tsipouras

¹Unit of Medical Technology and Intelligent Information Systems, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece

,

C. Papaloukas

²Department of Biological Applications and Technology, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece

,

D. G. Tsalikakis

¹Unit of Medical Technology and Intelligent Information Systems, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece

,

K. K. Naka

⁴Michaelidion Cardiology Center, Ioannina, Greece

⁵Department of Cardiology, Medical School, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece

,

D. I. Fotiadis

¹Unit of Medical Technology and Intelligent Information Systems, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece

³Biomedical Research Institute – FORTH, Ioannina, Greece

⁴Michaelidion Cardiology Center, Ioannina, Greece

› Author Affiliations

Abstract

Summary

Objectives: This paper describes a methodology for the monitoring of the fetal cardiac health status during pregnancy, through the effective and non-invasive monitoring of the abdominal ECG signals (abdECG) of the mother.

Methods: For this purpose, a three-stage methodology has been developed. In the first stage, the fetal heart rate (fHR) is extracted from the abdECG signals, using nonlinear analysis. Also, the eliminated ECG (eECG) is calculated, which is the abdECG after the maternal QRSs elimination. In the second stage, a blind source separation technique is applied to the eECG signals and the fetal ECG (fECG) is obtained. Finally, monitoring of the fetus is implemented using features extracted from the fHR and f ECG, such as the T/QRS ratio and the characterization of the fetal ST waveforms.

Results: The methodology is evaluated using a dataset of simulated multichannel abdECG signals: 94.79% accuracy for fHR extraction, 92.49% accuracy in T/QRS ratio calculation and 79.87% in ST waveform classification.

Conclusions: The novel non-invasive proposed methodology is advantageous since it offers automated identification of fHR and fECG and automated ST waveform analysis, exhibiting a high diagnostic accuracy.

Keywords

Fetal ECG - heart rate - blind source separation - fetal monitoring - ST analysis

Full Text

References

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