Computerized Analysis of Fetal Heart Rate Parameters in Oligohydramnios

Abstract

The non-stress test (NST) is known to be a sensitive tool for detecting fetal distress. The purpose of this study was to analyze NST results of oligohydramnios for identifying abnormal fetal heart rate (FHR) patterns by objective computerized analysis system instead of standard visual interpretation. The sample was chosen from pregnant women who took an NST at Hanyang University Hospital from November 2000 to October 2004 and consisted of the oligohydramnios group (33 women) and the control group (87 women). For collection of data and values of each variable, the auther's own FHR interpretation software, HYFM-III (Windows version, 2.0) was used. In this study, we accumulated elemental FHR data using computerized system and compared each parameters such as loss of signal, mean baseline FHR (bpm), number of fetal movement, amplitude, mean minute range, number of FHR accelerations and decelerations between two groups. The results showed that none of FHR parameters between two groups were significantly different (p > 0.05), even though the oligohydramnios group appeared to have lower birth weight compared to the control group. Our computerized interpretation of NST results showed no specific findings in oligohydramnios, although oligohydramnios has been reported to increase spontaneous decelerations or decrease FHR amplitude on standard visual interpretation of NST. This objective analysis of the computer program is expected to overcome some of the problems associated with current human visual interpretation.

Key Words : Computerized analysis of FHR, Oligohydramnios