title: The fetal ECG throughout the second half of gestation.
abstract: The results of a study in which multi-lead simultaneous recordings of the abdominal fetal electrocardiogram (FECG) have been made are presented. A homogeneous volume conduction model based on the actual recorded geometry was made. Using this model, fetal vectorcardiograms (FVCGS) were computed. Before 28 weeks of gestation the inter- and intra-individual variability of the observed signals could be removed by computing FVCGs in a fetal reference frame. This opens up the possibility of using the shape of the QRS complex for diagnostic purposes.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Medical Physics and Biophysics, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: T F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Oostendorp
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Oosterom
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Jongsma
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005318:Fetal Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy