Fetal Heart Rate Variability and its Diagnostics Indices Measurement for Early Detection of Autonomic Nervous System Activity

Abstract

The most important method for fetal monitoring is recording and monitoring of fetal heart rate (FHR) and analysis of fetal heart rate variability (fHRV). fHRV analysis have a physiological significance because changes in FHR are coupled to fetal well-being. The fetal heart rate (FHR) and its beat-to-beat variability are important parameters in the observation of the fetal condition. The importance of this subject has been felt as every year about one out of 125 babies are born with some form of congenital heart defects. Congenital heart defects originate in early stages of pregnancy when the heart is forming and they can affect any of the parts or functions of the heart. newlineThe medical reports shows about 12.8 percent of babies are born prematurely due to their nervous system growth problems. This problem can be detected during gestation period if we measure the heart rate of the fetus during his growth. Fetal heart starts pulsating at around 250 BPM at 12 weeks of gestation period and it decreases down to around 120 to 150 BPM at ninth month. The average heart rate and heart rate variation are related to development of the fetal nervous system and development of different body organs` are related to autonomic nervous system. Our studies include design and development of fetal heart rate variation measuring system and use the fetal heart rate data to define the diagnostic indices for fetal growth monitoring. These diagnostic indices can be utilized to predict the fetal future life complications and can be utilized for preventive measure. Our design system not only measures heart rate variation but also heart rate power spectrum which can be utilized for determining diagnostics indices helpful for the medical community.