Scattering transform for intrapartum fetal heart rate characterization and acidosis detection

Early acidosis detection and asphyxia prediction in intrapartum fetal heart rate is of major concern. This contribution aims at assessing the potential of the Scattering Transform to characterize intrapartum fetal heart rate. Elaborating on discrete wavelet transform, the Scattering Transform performs a non linear and multiscale analysis, thus probing not only the covariance structure of data but also the full dependence structure. Applied to a real database constructed by a French public academic hospital, the Scattering Transform is shown to catch relevant features of intrapartum fetal heart rate time dynamics and to have a satisfactory ability to discriminate Normal subjects from Abnormal.