A concise review of NIFECG extraction techniques to monitor fetal distress

Abstract

Non-Invasive Fetal Electrocardiogram (NIFECG) obtained from the abdominal Electrocardiogram (aECG) of a pregnant woman is an efficient clinical tool for supporting and evaluating the fetal distress along with the conventional ultrasound method. FECG signal is often masked by the maternal Electrocardiogram (MECG) partly due to the relatively low signal-to-noise ratio of the fetal ECG compared to the maternal ECG. The predominant noises are baseline wander, measuring electrodes, power line interference, maternal Electromyogram (EMG) etc. The other challenge is that the maternal and fetal signals overlap in time as well as frequency. Over the years, biomedical researchers have used various powerful and advanced techniques to extract and detect NIFECG from abdominal signals, which is become an important step towards fetal monitoring. The focus of this paper provides a concise review of the comparisons and performance of the various methods used by researchers to extract NIFECG signal for applications such as fetal heart rate monitoring systems.