title: Fetal heart rate recorder for long-duration use in active full-term pregnant women.
abstract: We sought to assess the signal consistency and accuracy of a long-duration fetal heart rate (FHR) recorder (a 1-MHz ultrasonic Doppler transducer composed of six miniprobes and an autocorrelation technique) in active, full-term pregnant women. The FHR data of 15 normal full-term fetuses were obtained every 250 milliseconds in various maternal positions using the new Doppler system or a direct scalp electrocardiographic (ECG) transducer. Differences between simultaneous Doppler and ECG measures were small and within acceptable limits except for short-term variability. Signal loss, assessed in 15 subjects in various positions, was less than 10% except during sitting or walking. The mean (+/- standard deviation) percentages of FHR signals lost over 2 hours in bed, 1 hour out of bed, and 24 hours in and out of bed were 1.2 +/- 2.1, 12.9 +/- 16.2, and 3.8 +/- 4.4, respectively. This system for recording FHR is suitable for clinical research and routine FHR monitoring, and provides data comparable to Holter ECG monitoring in patients with heart disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Saga Medical School, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shono
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Muro
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kohara
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagasawa
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sugimori
mesh_terms: D004562:Electrocardiography; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D005323:Fetal Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006340:Heart Rate, Fetal; D006801:Humans; D011187:Posture; D011247:Pregnancy; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013997:Time Factors; D014159:Transducers; D014465:Ultrasonics