scholarly journals Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring Implemented by Dynamic Adaptation of Transmission Power of a Flexible Ultrasound Transducer Array

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 1195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Hamelmann ◽  
Massimo Mischi ◽  
Alexander Kolen ◽  
Judith van Laar ◽  
Rik Vullings ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Fetal Heart Rate ◽  
Fetal Heart ◽  
Dynamic Adaptation ◽  
Ambulatory Setting ◽  
Transmission Power ◽  
Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring ◽  
Chicken Heart ◽  
Transducer Array ◽  
The Us

Fetal heart rate (fHR) monitoring using Doppler Ultrasound (US) is a standard method to assess fetal health before and during labor. Typically, an US transducer is positioned on the maternal abdomen and directed towards the fetal heart. Due to fetal movement or displacement of the transducer, the relative fetal heart location (fHL) with respect to the US transducer can change, leading to frequent periods of signal loss. Consequently, frequent repositioning of the US transducer is required, which is a cumbersome task affecting clinical workflow. In this research, a new flexible US transducer array is proposed which allows for measuring the fHR independently of the fHL. In addition, a method for dynamic adaptation of the transmission power of this array is introduced with the aim of reducing the total acoustic dose transmitted to the fetus and the associated power consumption, which is an important requirement for application in an ambulatory setting. The method is evaluated using an in-vitro setup of a beating chicken heart. We demonstrate that the signal quality of the Doppler signal acquired with the proposed method is comparable to that of a standard, clinical US transducer. At the same time, our transducer array is able to measure the fHR for varying fHL while only using 50% of the total transmission power of standard, clinical US transducers.

scholarly journals Implementation of the Moyo fetal heart rate monitor in district hospitals in Bihar, India: a feasibility study

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. e041071
Author(s):  
Hanna Oommen ◽  
Kunal Ranjan ◽  
Sudha Murugesan ◽  
Aboli Gore ◽  
Sunil Sonthalia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Health System ◽  
Fetal Heart Rate ◽  
Clinical Training ◽  
Fetal Heart ◽  
Barriers And Facilitators ◽  
Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring ◽  
Cultural Challenges ◽  
District Hospitals ◽  
Bihar State

ObjectivesGlobally, half of all stillbirths occur during birth. Detection of fetal distress with fetal heart rate monitoring (FHRM), followed by appropriate and timely management, might reduce fresh stillbirths and neonatal morbidity. This study aimed to investigate the barriers and facilitators for the implementation of Moyo FHRM use in Bihar state, and secondarily, the feasibility of collecting reliable obstetrical and neonatal outcome data to assess the effect of implementation.SettingCARE Bihar and the hospital management at four district hospitals (DHs) in Bihar state, each with 6500 to 15 000 deliveries a year, agreed to testing the implementation of Moyo FHRM through a process of meetings, training sessions and collecting data. At each hospital, a clinical training expert was trained to train others, while a clinical assessment facilitator collected data.MethodologyObservational notes were taken at all training sessions and meetings. Individual interviews (n=4) were conducted with clinical training experts (CTEs) on training experiences and barriers and facilitators for Moyo FHRM implementation. The CTEs recoded field notes in diaries. Descriptive analyses performed on pre-implementation and post-implementation data (n=521) assessed quality and completeness.ResultsMain barriers to implementation of Moyo FHRM were health system and cultural challenges involving (1) existing practices, (2) insufficient human resources, (3) action delays and (4) cultural and local challenges. Another barrier was insufficient involvement of doctors. Facilitators for implementation were easy use of the Moyo FHRM device and adequate training for staff.Electronic collection of obstetrical data worked well but had substantial missing data.ConclusionHealth system and cultural challenges are a major constraint to Moyo FHRM implementation in low-resource settings. Improvements at all levels of infrastructure, practices and skills will be critical in busy DHs in Bihar. Full-scale implementation needs doctor-led leadership and ownership. Obstetrical data collection for the purpose of scientific analysis needs to be improved.

scholarly journals Dedicated Algorithm for Unobtrusive Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring Using Multiple Dry Electrodes

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (13) ◽  
pp. 4298
Author(s):  
Alessandra Galli ◽  
Elisabetta Peri ◽  
Yijing Zhang ◽  
Rik Vullings ◽  
Myrthe van der Ven ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Fetal Heart Rate ◽  
Fetal Heart ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Motion Artifacts ◽  
Accurate Estimation ◽  
Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring ◽  
Dry Electrodes ◽  
Textile Electrodes ◽  
Dry Electrode

Multi-channel measurements from the maternal abdomen acquired by means of dry electrodes can be employed to promote long-term monitoring of fetal heart rate (fHR). The signals acquired with this type of electrode have a lower signal-to-noise ratio and different artifacts compared to signals acquired with conventional wet electrodes. Therefore, starting from the benchmark algorithm with the best performance for fHR estimation proposed by Varanini et al., we propose a new method specifically designed to remove artifacts typical of dry-electrode recordings. To test the algorithm, experimental textile electrodes were employed that produce artifacts typical of dry and capacitive electrodes. The proposed solution is based on a hybrid (hardware and software) pre-processing step designed specifically to remove the disturbing component typical of signals acquired with these electrodes (triboelectricity artifacts and amplitude modulations). The following main processing steps consist of the removal of the maternal ECG by blind source separation, the enhancement of the fetal ECG and identification of the fetal QRS complexes. Main processing is designed to be robust to the high-amplitude motion artifacts that corrupt the acquisition. The obtained denoising system was compared with the benchmark algorithm both on semi-simulated and on real data. The performance, quantified by means of sensitivity, F1-score and root-mean-square error metrics, outperforms the performance obtained with the original method available in the literature. This result proves that the design of a dedicated processing system based on the signal characteristics is necessary for reliable and accurate estimation of the fHR using dry, textile electrodes.

Intrapartum Use of Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring, Contraction Monitoring, and Amnioinfusion

1995 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 875-906 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Cusick ◽  
John C. Smulian ◽  
Anthony M. Vintzileos
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Fetal Heart Rate ◽  
Fetal Heart ◽  
Heart Rate Monitoring ◽  
Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring
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