Apparatus and method for feature extraction and classification of fetal heart rate

Abstract

Provided are an apparatus and method for receiving a fetal heart rate (FHR) signal at each interval during a monitoring period, receiving a uterine pressure (UP) signal at each of the intervals to obtain a plurality of FHR-UP signal pairs, and extracting a feature value for each FHR-UP signal pair, with the feature value being extracted from a predefined alphabet of feature values.

Description

PRIORITY[0001]This application claims priority to Provisional Patent Applications Nos. 61 / 839,077 and 61 / 987,628, filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Jun. 25, 2013 and May 2, 2014, respectively, the contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention generally relates to non-invasive methods and an apparatus for detection and monitoring of fetal health and, more particularly, to methods for monitoring fetal heart rate during intrapartum.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]Uterine contractions cause reduction in uterine and placental blood flow. Consequently, oxygen exchange through the placenta is temporarily decreased, followed by normalization of the perfusion after relaxation of the uterus. Oxygenation of the fetus is directly dependent on four factors: maternal blood pressure, maternal oxygenation, available placental surface area for perfusion, and whether th...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for monitoring fetal health by receiving an FHR signal and a uterine pressure signal at regular intervals and extracting feature values from them. These feature values are then used to create a feature value pair for each interval. This approach allows for more accurate and reliable monitoring of fetal health.

Problems solved by technology

Compromise of any factor will compromise oxygen transfer and cause uteroplacental oxygen insufficiency.

Uteroplacental oxygen insufficiency can occur due to an infarction in the placenta that will result in poor oxygen transfer during relaxation of the uterus, resulting in low oxygen levels, i.e., fetal hypoxemia.

Alternatively, very deep contractions or an excess number of contractions per unit time will cause the placenta to not have sufficient time to absorb oxygen from maternal blood between contractions.

Another cause of uteroplacental oxygen insufficiency is decreased maternal perfusion of the placenta that may occur if the mother is hypotensive, hypoxic, or has other complications.

Even for contractions of normal length and size, the fetus may undergo distress because the fetus cannot absorb enough oxygen even after the contraction.

A further cause of uteroplacental oxygen insufficiency occurs with umbilical cord constriction, which decreases oxygen delivery to the fetus.

Conventional methods for analysis of FHR and uterine pressure patterns generally rely on parametric approaches and use summary features obtained from long stretches of data, which fail to account for local nonlinearities and nonstationarity, and are not effective in many applications, in particular for monitoring FHR during intrapartum.

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