Multicentre study of fetal cardiac time intervals using magnetocardiography.

Objective: A database with reference values of the durations of the various waveforms in a magnetocardiogram of fetuses in uncomplicated pregnancies is assessed. This database will be of help to discriminate between pathologic and healthy fetuses. A fetal magnetocardiogram is a recording of the magnetic field in a location near the maternal abdomen and reflects the electric activity within the fetal heart.

Clinical implications of fetal magnetocardiography.

Objectives: To test the usefulness and reliability of fetal magnetocardiography as a diagnostic or screening tool, both for fetuses with arrhythmias as well as for fetuses with a congenital heart defect.

Methods: We describe 21 women with either a fetal arrhythmia or a congenital heart defect discovered during prenatal evaluation by sonography. Four fetuses showed a complete atrioventricular block, two an atrial flutter, nine ventricular extrasystole, and one a complete irregular heart rate.