title: Comparison of non-invasive fetal electrocardiogram to Doppler cardiotocogram during the 1st stage of labor.
abstract: We compared a non-invasive fetal electrocardiogram (fECG) to Doppler cardiotocogram (CTG) during the 1(st) stage of labor.
  
  
  
  This was a prospective observational study of non-invasive fECG using five abdominal electrodes and one Doppler ultrasound probe in 27 patients. Data were analyzed for reliability, clinical and statistical equivalence.
  
  
  
  The fECG was similar to the traditional Doppler method. The fECG characterizes a fetal heart rate (FHR) trace in a similar way with regards to acceleration count, decelerations count and coincidence, variability and baseline. The FHR was overall correlated (Pearson's r=0.91).
  
  
  
  This non-invasive fECG presents an alternative, reliable and accurate assessment for fetal well-being during the 1(st) stage of labor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Marien-Hospital Witten, University Witten/Herdecke, Teaching hospital of the Ruhr-University Bochum, Witten, Germany. Reinhard@Marien-Hospital-Witten.de
authors.forename: Joscha
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Reinhard
authors.forename: Barrie R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Hayes-Gill
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.forename: Hendrike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hatzmann
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schiermeier
mesh_terms: D015148:Cardiotocography / Q000379:methods*; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005323:Fetal Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005333:Fetus; D006340:Heart Rate, Fetal / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007747:Labor Stage, First / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric