Abstract:
Fetal heart rate (FHR) detection can be monitored using either direct fetal scalp electrode recording (invasive) or by indirect non–invasive technique. Weeks before delivery, the invasive method poses a risk factor to the fetus, while the latter provides accurate fetal ECG (FECG) information which can help diagnose fetal’s well-being. Our technique employs variable order linear phase sharp transition (LPST) band pass FIR filter which shows improved stopband attenuation at higher filter orders. The fetal frequency fiduciary edges forms the band edges of the filter characterized by varying amounts of overlap of maternal ECG (MECG) spectrum. The one with the minimum maternal spectrum overlap was found to be optimum with no power line interference and maximum fetal heart beats being detected. The improved filtering is reflected in the enhancement of the performance of the fetal QRS detector (FQRS). The improvement has also occurred in fetal heart rate obtained using our algorithm which is in close agreement with the true reference (ie. invasive fetal scalp ECG). The performance parameters of the FQRS detector such as sensitivity (Se), positive predictive value (PPV) and accuracy (F 1) were found to improve even for lower filter order. The same technique was extended to evaluate maternal QRS detector (MQRS) and found to yield satisfactory maternal heart rate (MHR) results.
