[Electrohysterography. A promising alternative for monitoring contractions].

Monitoring contractions during labour using the external tocodynamometer can be difficult or even impossible, and using the invasive intrauterine pressure catheter is associated with rare but serious complications. A new non-invasive technique is currently available: electrohysterography (EHG). This technique converts the electrical activity of the uterine muscle into a legible tocogram.

Fetal heart rate variability during pregnancy, obtained from non-invasive electrocardiogram recordings.

Objective: Non-invasive spectral analysis of fetal heart rate variability is a promising new field of fetal monitoring. To validate this method properly, we studied the relationship between gestational age and the influence of fetal rest-activity state on spectral estimates of fetal heart rate variability.

Design: Prospective longitudinal study.

Bayesian approach to patient-tailored vectorcardiography.

For assessment of specific cardiac pathologies, vectorcardiography is generally considered superior with respect to electrocardiography. Existing vectorcardiography methods operate by calculating the vectorcardiogram (VCG) as a fixed linear combination of ECG signals. These methods, with the inverse Dower matrix method the current standard, are therefore not flexible with respect to different body compositions and geometries.

The reliability of continuous measurement of mixed venous oxygen saturation during exercise in patients with chronic heart failure.

Continuous assessment of mixed venous oxygen saturation (cSvO(2)) during exercise using a fiber optic pulmonary artery catheter can provide valuable information on the physiological determinants of the exercise capacity in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Since its accuracy is not well established during exercise, this study evaluated the reliability of a fiber optic pulmonary artery catheter for measuring SvO(2 )during exercise in CHF patients. Ten patients with stable CHF performed steady-state exercise tests at 30 and 80% of the ventilatory threshold and consequently a symptom-limited incremental exercise test.

Beat-to-beat detection of fetal heart rate: Doppler ultrasound cardiotocography compared to direct ECG cardiotocography in time and frequency domain.

In order to obtain power spectral information on the fetal heart rate in stages of pregnancy earlier than labor an algorithm has been developed to calculate the fetal heart rate on a beat-to-beat basis from Doppler ultrasound cardiotocographic signals. The algorithm was evaluated by comparing the calculated fetal heart rate with the heart rate determined from direct ECG signals measured with a scalp electrode. Heart rates were compared both in time and frequency domain.