Misinterpretation of fetal heart rate monitoring in case of intrauterine death.
Electronic fetal heart rate monitoring has become a routine examination to assess fetal well-being. This report presents an unusual case in which maternal heart rate tachycardia was obtained from a dead fetus and was interpreted erroneously. The dead fetus conducted maternal ECG even through a scalp electrode by amplifying the input signal through the Automatic Control system of the monitoring equipment. The importance of concomitant maternal radial pulse recording or a real time scan is stressed.
D000328:Adult; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005323:Fetal Monitoring; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D013610:Tachycardia / Q000175:diagnosis