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Normal ranges for fetal electrocardiogram values for the healthy fetus of 18–24 weeks of gestation: a prospective cohort study
BACKGROUND: The fetal anomaly ultrasound only detects 65 to 81 % of the patients with congenital heart disease, making it the most common structural fetal anomaly of which a significant part is missed during prenatal life. Therefore, we need a reliable non-invasive diagnostic method which improves t...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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BioMed Central
2016
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4987971/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27531050 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12884-016-1021-x |
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author | Verdurmen, Kim M. J. Lempersz, Carlijn Vullings, Rik Schroer, Christian Delhaas, Tammo van Laar, Judith O. E. H. Oei, S. Guid |
author_facet | Verdurmen, Kim M. J. Lempersz, Carlijn Vullings, Rik Schroer, Christian Delhaas, Tammo van Laar, Judith O. E. H. Oei, S. Guid |
author_sort | Verdurmen, Kim M. J. |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: The fetal anomaly ultrasound only detects 65 to 81 % of the patients with congenital heart disease, making it the most common structural fetal anomaly of which a significant part is missed during prenatal life. Therefore, we need a reliable non-invasive diagnostic method which improves the predictive value for congenital heart diseases early in pregnancy. Fetal electrocardiography could be this desired diagnostic method. There are multiple technical challenges to overcome in the conduction of the fetal electrocardiogram. In addition, interpretation is difficult due to the organisation of the fetal circulation in utero. We want to establish the normal ranges and values of the fetal electrocardiogram parameters in healthy fetuses of 18 to 24 weeks of gestation. METHODS/DESIGN: Women with an uneventful singleton pregnancy between 18 and 24 weeks of gestation are asked to participate in this prospective cohort study. A certified and experienced sonographist performs the fetal anomaly scan. Subsequently, a fetal electrocardiogram recording is performed using dedicated signal processing methods. Measurements are performed at two institutes. We will include 300 participants to determine the normal values and 95 % confidence intervals of the fetal electrocardiogram parameters in a healthy fetus. We will evaluate the fetal heart rate, segment intervals, normalised amplitude and the fetal heart axis. Three months postpartum, we will evaluate if a newborn is healthy through a questionnaire. DISCUSSION: Fetal electrocardiography could be a promising tool in the screening program for congenital heart diseases. The electrocardiogram is a depiction of the intimate relationship between the cardiac nerve conduction pathways and the structural morphology of the fetal heart, and therefore particularly suitable for the detection of secondary effects due to a congenital heart disease (hypotrophy, hypertrophy and conduction interruption). |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4987971 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2016 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-49879712016-08-18 Normal ranges for fetal electrocardiogram values for the healthy fetus of 18–24 weeks of gestation: a prospective cohort study Verdurmen, Kim M. J. Lempersz, Carlijn Vullings, Rik Schroer, Christian Delhaas, Tammo van Laar, Judith O. E. H. Oei, S. Guid BMC Pregnancy Childbirth Study Protocol BACKGROUND: The fetal anomaly ultrasound only detects 65 to 81 % of the patients with congenital heart disease, making it the most common structural fetal anomaly of which a significant part is missed during prenatal life. Therefore, we need a reliable non-invasive diagnostic method which improves the predictive value for congenital heart diseases early in pregnancy. Fetal electrocardiography could be this desired diagnostic method. There are multiple technical challenges to overcome in the conduction of the fetal electrocardiogram. In addition, interpretation is difficult due to the organisation of the fetal circulation in utero. We want to establish the normal ranges and values of the fetal electrocardiogram parameters in healthy fetuses of 18 to 24 weeks of gestation. METHODS/DESIGN: Women with an uneventful singleton pregnancy between 18 and 24 weeks of gestation are asked to participate in this prospective cohort study. A certified and experienced sonographist performs the fetal anomaly scan. Subsequently, a fetal electrocardiogram recording is performed using dedicated signal processing methods. Measurements are performed at two institutes. We will include 300 participants to determine the normal values and 95 % confidence intervals of the fetal electrocardiogram parameters in a healthy fetus. We will evaluate the fetal heart rate, segment intervals, normalised amplitude and the fetal heart axis. Three months postpartum, we will evaluate if a newborn is healthy through a questionnaire. DISCUSSION: Fetal electrocardiography could be a promising tool in the screening program for congenital heart diseases. The electrocardiogram is a depiction of the intimate relationship between the cardiac nerve conduction pathways and the structural morphology of the fetal heart, and therefore particularly suitable for the detection of secondary effects due to a congenital heart disease (hypotrophy, hypertrophy and conduction interruption). BioMed Central 2016-08-17 /pmc/articles/PMC4987971/ /pubmed/27531050 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12884-016-1021-x Text en © The Author(s). 2016 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
spellingShingle | Study Protocol Verdurmen, Kim M. J. Lempersz, Carlijn Vullings, Rik Schroer, Christian Delhaas, Tammo van Laar, Judith O. E. H. Oei, S. Guid Normal ranges for fetal electrocardiogram values for the healthy fetus of 18–24 weeks of gestation: a prospective cohort study |
title | Normal ranges for fetal electrocardiogram values for the healthy fetus of 18–24 weeks of gestation: a prospective cohort study |
title_full | Normal ranges for fetal electrocardiogram values for the healthy fetus of 18–24 weeks of gestation: a prospective cohort study |
title_fullStr | Normal ranges for fetal electrocardiogram values for the healthy fetus of 18–24 weeks of gestation: a prospective cohort study |
title_full_unstemmed | Normal ranges for fetal electrocardiogram values for the healthy fetus of 18–24 weeks of gestation: a prospective cohort study |
title_short | Normal ranges for fetal electrocardiogram values for the healthy fetus of 18–24 weeks of gestation: a prospective cohort study |
title_sort | normal ranges for fetal electrocardiogram values for the healthy fetus of 18–24 weeks of gestation: a prospective cohort study |
topic | Study Protocol |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4987971/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27531050 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12884-016-1021-x |
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