2CTG2: A new system for the antepartum analysis of fetal heart rate

Abstract

The cardiotocography (CTG) has been introduced in in the early ‘70ies as a clinical test for checking fetal well-being during pregnancy and at the moment of delivery. The traditional approach was based on the detection of several time domain parameters of Fetal Heart Rate (FHR) signal starting from the identification of a signal baseline. With the certainty that FHR really contains important indications about potentially dangerous fetal conditions, a prototype system has been setup based on new algorithms and indices which can enhance the differences among normal and pathological fetal conditions. The basic characteristics of this system are: FHR sampled and recorded at 2 Hz; on-line traditional analysis by incremental Mantel algorithm; extraction of accelerations, decelerations, FHR variability and related parameters; extraction of power spectral components related to different physiological control mechanisms; computation of FHR signal regularity indices through the Approximate Entropy algorithm.