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THE ANALYSIS OF CONTINUOUS FETAL HEART RATE TRACES IN THE FIRST AND SECOND STAGES OF LABOUR
Author(s) -
Thomas Gareth,
Blackwell R. J.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
bjog: an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.157
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1471-0528
pISSN - 1470-0328
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1975.tb00699.x
Subject(s) - fetal heart rate , fetus , fetal distress , heart rate , blood pressure , medicine , stage (stratigraphy) , scalp , baseline (sea) , cardiotocography , cardiology , anesthesia , pregnancy , surgery , biology , paleontology , fishery , genetics
Summary In the search for a simplified method of fetal heart rate trace assessment 50 traces recorded during the first stage of labour and those recorded in the last hour of each of a further 50 labours have been analysed intensively. The importance of baseline variability in predicting possible fetal distress in both the first stage and the last hour of labour is shown and the possible use of an objective measurement of baseline variability in the further screening for fetal acidosis is described. The importance of lag time measurement in the first stage of labour is demonstrated and the relationships between fetal scalp blood pH and other heart rate parameters is discussed Significant inverse correlations between one‐minute Apgar score and maximum amplitude of deceleration and total deceleration area in the last hour of labour are also shown. Temporal relationships between intrauterine pressure rises and transient changes of fetal heart rate failed to give significant correlations in the last hour. These findings in the last hour of labour are compared with those obtained in the first stage of labour and the differences are discussed.