Evaluation of Mesh and Sensor Resolution for Finite Element Modeling of Non-Invasive Fetal ECG Signals

Non-invasive fetal electrocardiography (NI-FECG) is an emerging tool with novel diagnostic potential for monitoring fetal wellbeing using electrical signals acquired from the maternal abdomen. However, variations in the geometric structure and conductivity of maternal-fetal tissues have been shown to affect the reliability of NI-FECG signals. Previous studies have utilized detailed finite element models to simulate these impacts, however this approach is computationally expensive. In this study, we investigate a range of mesh and sensor resolutions to determine an optimal trade-off between computational cost and modeling accuracy for simulating NI-FECG signals. Our results demonstrate that an optimal refinement of mesh resolution provides comparable accuracy to a detailed reference solution while requiring approximately 12 times less computation time and one-third of the memory usage. Furthermore, positioning simulated sensors at a 20 mm grid spacing provides a sufficient representation of abdominal surface potentials. These findings represent default parameters to be used in future simulations of NI-FECG signals. Code for the model utilized in this work is available under an open-source GPL license as part of the fecgsyn toolbox.Clinical Relevance- Simulating NI-FECG signals provides the opportunity to study the effects of sensor placement and maternal-fetal anatomic variations in a controlled setting. This work has relevance in determining default parameters for efficiently performing these simulations.