The fetal ECG throughout the second half of gestation

The results of a study in which multi-lead simultaneous recordings of the abdominal fetal electrocardiogram (FECG) have been made are presented. A homogeneous volume conduction model based on the actual recorded geometry was made. Using this model, fetal vectorcardiograms (FVCGS) were computed. Before 28 weeks of gestation the inter- and intra-individual variability of the observed signals could be removed by computing FVCGs in a fetal reference frame. This opens up the possibility of using the shape of the QRS complex for diagnostic purposes.