Value of Non-Invasive Fetal Monitoring Techniques in Detection of Fetal Metabolic Acidemia at Birth

Objective. Purpose of the study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of fetal pulse oximetry (FPO) and STanalysis of the fetal ECG (STAN) in prediction of fetal acidemia at birth. Methods. A prospective clinical study was conducted at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine, Martin, Slovakia. In total, 63 out of 70 women with non-reassuring CTG patterns in labour were enrolled. Fetal surveillance during the labour continued with simultaneous CTG plus FPO and STAN monitoring. A receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis was performed to ascertain diagnostic accuracy of individual methods. Results. The study confirmed FPO has a significant ability to detect fetal acidemia at birth (UA-pH ≤ 7.2). The optimum diagnostic cut-off value of SpO2 was 33%, with FPO’s diagnostic sensitivity 60%, and specificity 85.2%. The diagnostic accuracies of STAN + CTG and CTG alone were inferior to that of FPO. Conclusions. FPO has an ability to predict fetal birth acidemia (UA-pH ≤ 7.2), and its diagnostic accuracy is superior to STAN + CTG, or CTG alone monitoring. Condensation.FPO has ability to predict fetal birth acidemia (UA - pH≤7.2), and its diagnostic accuracy is superior to STAN + CTG, or CTG alone monitoring.