A Survey on Fetal Electrocardiogram
- February 21, 2018
- Posted by: RSIS
- Categories: Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Engineering
International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume V, Issue II, February 2018 | ISSN 2321–2705
A Survey on Fetal Electrocardiogram
Jayprakash Nayak1, Om Prakash Yadav2
1 Chhatrapati Shivaji Institute of Technology, Durg, Chhattisgarh, India
2 Chhatrapati Shivaji Institute of Technology, Durg, Chhattisgarh, India
Abstract—The fetal electrocardiogram (FECG) is a technique of recording bioelectric current generated by the fetal heart. It is obtaining mainly from maternal abdomen. These signals are corrupted by various types of noise. This paper mainly focuses on the artifacts affecting the FECG characteristics. Methods already available to extract the FECG from the noises are also explored.
Keywords— ECG, FECG, MECG, QRS complex, heart rate.
I. INTRODUCTION
Fetal Electrocardiogram (FECG) is a method to determine the electrical activity of fetus heart during pregnancy and at childbirth. It provides information about both fetal heart rate and fetal heart condition. This is required for diagnosis of any cardiac defects in fetus heart [1]. An ECG obtained for adults is a non-invasive test to detect the proper functioning of the heart and is obtained by placing the electrodes on the skin in specific locations [2]. But for measuring the FECG, there are no such exact positions available. FECG is obtaining by mainly two ways: one invasive and non-invasive. In invasive case, the electrode is directly placed on the fetal scalp during labor. This gives almost pure FECG. The disadvantage associated with the technique is that both the mother and fetus are prone to infections [2]. Non-invasive method, which is generally used, is done by placing the electrode on the mother’s abdomen. The FECG is very much related to the adult ECG, containing the same basic waveforms including the P wave, the QRS complex, and the T wave, in some cases, U wave. A normal FECG signal is shown in figure 1. The P wave occurs at the beginning of atrial contraction, QRS complex is associated with the contraction of the ventricles, and T wave corresponds to the repolarization ventricles, which follows each heart contraction [3]. Normally FECG has a bandwidth of 0.05-100 Hz. The maximum amplitude of QRS complex is usually oscillates from 100 µV to 150 µV for maternal recording and up to 60 µV for the fetal recording.
