Earlier monitoring of fetal heartbeat

Sriram Dash

Reg. 0601289053

Outline

• What is fetal heart rate monitoring ? When it is required?

• Why go for fetal heart rate monitoring ?Why as early as possible?

• Fetal heart rate monitoring till date .– Methods.

• Ultrasound.• ECG belts.

– Their Disadvantages.

Contd…

• Proposed heart rate monitoring method.– Plan.– Method.– Explanation with circuit concepts.

• Advantages of the proposed methodology over currently available techniques.

• References.

What is fetal heart rate monitoring

• Fetal heart rate monitoring is recording of ECG & CTG and monitoring of the heart as a whole of a fetus .

• Only screening tests are available for monitoring fetal activity inside placenta, now-a-days.

• The only accurate test till date is the antenatal testing.

• But the monitoring of fetus should be done as early as possible.

Why go for fetal heart rate monitoring? Why as early as possible?

Contd…

• The fetal heart beat is an important parameter in determining hypoxia.

• Bradycardia occurrence can be detected.

• Fetal heart rate is an indirect way of measurement of pH of the body-Acidosis.

• Any abnormality in the structure of heart can be found by observing the ECG ,PCG and CTG.

Tools for Fetal Welfare Assessment

• There are many tools available for assessing fetal welfare.

• All tests have a reasonably low incidence of finding true fetal compromise.

• There are broadly two methods for fetal heart rate monitoring:– Ultrasound– ECG

Ultrasound

• Introduced from the late 1950’s , it is currently considered a safe, non-invasive and cost-effective investigation.– Dating scans– Nuchal Translucency scans– Anomaly scans – Growth scans– Liquor Assessment

ECG Monitoring

• Monitoring the baby's heart using electrocardiography (ECG) plus cardiotocography (CTG) during labour helps mothers and babies when continuous monitoring is needed.

• This is done by placement of scalp electrodes on the baby during labour.

Disadvantages

• Inaccurate

• Many interferences observed in ECG.

• No clear picture of heart is obtained.

Proposed heart rate monitoring method

• The proposed method for recording the heart beat accurately and earlier consists of a wide belt, fitted with several ECG electrodes.

• The data from the electrodes is fed to a monitor which analyses the data on an algorithm, for clear ECG data of the fetus.

The Proposed Heart rate monitoring model

The Adaptive filter

x(n) = v(n) + m(n)x(n) : primary input to the filter, observed signalv(n) : signal of interestm(n) : primary noiseAdaptive filtering requires a second input r(n), ‘reference input’

Contd…

Original signal

Fetal ECG

Corrected signal

Conclusion

• Accurate.

• Fetal heart rate can be found earlier.

• Added Advantage-Multidimensional view of fetal heart can be obtained.

References

• Elizabeth Thomson.(2009).Techtalk. New system allows earlier monitoring of fetal heart beat.53(27),4.

• NSWHEALTH.(2008).Fetal Physiology. Cooke H. & Giles W. Retrieved august 2009.