title: Evaluation of the fetal QT interval using non-invasive fetal ECG technology.
abstract: Non-invasive fetal electrocardiography (NI-FECG) is a promising alternative continuous fetal monitoring method that has the potential to allow morphological analysis of the FECG. However, there are a number of challenges associated with the evaluation of morphological parameters from the NI-FECG, including low signal to noise ratio of the NI-FECG and methodological challenges for getting reference annotations and evaluating the accuracy of segmentation algorithms. This work aims to validate the measurement of the fetal QT interval in term laboring women using a NI-FECG electrocardiogram monitor. Fetal electrocardiogram data were recorded from 22 laboring women at term using the NI-FECG and an invasive fetal scalp electrode simultaneously. A total of 105 one-minute epochs were selected for analysis. Three pediatric electrophysiologists independently annotated individual waveforms and averaged waveforms from each epoch. The intervals measured on the averaged cycles taken from the NI-FECG and the fetal scalp electrode showed a close agreement; the root mean square error between all corresponding averaged NI-FECG and fetal scalp electrode beats was 13.6 ms, which is lower than the lowest adult root mean square error of 16.1 ms observed in related adult QT studies. These results provide evidence that NI-FECG technology enables accurate extraction of the fetal QT interval.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering Faculty, Technion-IIT, Haifa, Israel. University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Behar
authors.forename: Tingting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oster
authors.forename: Alisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Niksch
authors.forename: Douglas Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Mah
authors.forename: Terrence
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chun
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Greenberg
authors.forename: Cassandre
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tanner
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Harrop
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sameni
authors.forename: Jay
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ward
authors.forename: Adam J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Wolfberg
authors.forename: Gari D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Clifford
mesh_terms: D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005323:Fetal Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio