Prenatal telemedicine: clinical experience with conventional and computerised antepartum telecardiotocography.

Objective: To describe the clinical results of the first working year of a telemedicine project based on computerised telecardiotocography.

Study Design: The project is based on the "TOCOMAT" system, which remotely recorded and processed cardiotocograms performed at five peripheral units from high and low risk patients, then transferred them to a University Operative Centre, where they were displayed, stored and analysed by the 2CTG system and by two expert observers.

Results: 457 traces were analysed. The perinatal outcome was good, except for two high-risk fetuses. Both patients and carers had favourable reactions. The management of patients with pregnancies at risk was improved by the interaction of the physicians involved with the experts at the Operative Centre.

Conclusions: Telemedicine could enable the decentralization of perinatal surveillance, improving quality of life for pregnant and newborn and rationalizing costs for prenatal care.