Artifactual fetal heart rate recording secondary to 60-Hz power-line interference.
The presence of excessive 60-Hz power-line interference may produce fetal heart rate (FHR) monitor records that do not reflect the true fetal condition. A case in presented where improper leg-plate grounding resulted in an artifactual tracing that could have easily been misinterpreted. Careful examination of the monitor oscillographic display is urged whenever a tracing appears to have no variability and/or a rigidly fixed baseline rate.
D000328:Adult; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005260:Female; D005316:Fetal Distress / Q000175:diagnosis; D005318:Fetal Heart / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005323:Fetal Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy