QUANTIFICATION OF THE FETAL HEART-RATE-VARIABILITY BY SPECTRAL-ANALYSIS OF FETAL WELL-BEING AND FETAL DISTRESS

Our objectives were to increase the discrimination between fetal distr ess and fetal well-being, using fetal heart rate spectral analysis. Mo nitoring of the heart rate from 259 fetuses was done between 26 and 42 weeks, interpreted with classical criteria, and analysed with the spe ctral analysis method we developed. The fetal heart rate spectrum anal ysis performed on these recordings allow discrimination of fetal distr ess from the normal state using the energy value and frequency of the maximal energy in the high frequency band. We can conclude that the sp ectral analysis produces two significant parameters which could contri bute to a multivariate approach to assessments of the physiological me chanisms of heart rate variability.