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Fetal heart rate patterns in normal and ritodrine-treated pregnancies, detected by magnetocardiography
P G Anastasiadis1, P Anninos, E Assimakopoulos
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical School, Democritus University of Thrace, Thrace, Greece.
Objective:
The aim of the present study was to test the validity of magnetocardiography in the diagnosis of fetal heart rate arrhythmias in normal pregnancies, as compared to the number of arrhythmias reported in other series, which were detected by use of other diagnostic techniques. We also evaluated the influence of ritodrine on the fetal heart rhythm in pregnancies treated for the risk of preterm labor by means of magnetocardiography, in order to provide preliminary results that could be utilized in the future establishment of magnetocardiography as a screening procedure in the diagnosis and management of fetal arrhythmias.
Methods:
We performed a prospective study on two subgroups of pregnant women: one of 84 women with normal healthy singleton pregnancies and one of 68 pregnant women treated with ritodrine for the risk of preterm labor.
Results:
The prevalence of fetal arrhythmias in the first subgroup was 3.5% (3/84), while in the second subgroup the prevalence was 16% (11/68).
Conclusions:
The incidence of fetal arrhythmias detected in our population of normal pregnancies was comparable to that reported in previous studies by use of other techniques. Results gained from the second subgroup, although not comparable to others, owing to lack of similar reports, led us to believe that magnetocardiography's advantages over conventional methods of fetal cardiac surveillance could highlight the technique as a useful screening procedure for the detection of preterm fetuses, which should be submitted to closer investigation, because of the arrhythmias caused by ritodrine infusion.