Antepartum and Intrapartum Cardiotocography and Fetal Outcome in High - Risk Pregnancy

Introduction: Use of fetal heart rate (FHR) to assess fetal well - being has become standard obstetric practice. ? Currently the most commonly hypoxia. ? The fetal heart rate signal can be obtained from a fetal ECG electrode placed on the maternal abdomen by processing the Doppler shift of an ultrasound beam. ? Prenatal CTG is aimed to detect the effect of acute and/or chronic fetal hypoxia. The goal of the obstetrician/ perinatologist caring for the pregnant women is not only to prevent fetal death but with the detection of fetal compromise and timely delivery of such infants in an effort to maximize their future potential. Aims: The objective of the study was to find out the incidence of abnormal cardiotocography (CTG) findings in pregnancies at risk, to find out the suitable time of delivery of the fetus at risk and to find out the fetal outcome in abnormal antepartum CTG findings. Material & Methods: It is a prospective study where 112 high risk pregnancy cases of different gestational age, ranging from 32 - 42 weeks were selected from Nalanda Medical College Hospital, Patna from Jan 2019 to Oct 2020. CTG was done on admission and the subjects were followed - up till delivery. The data obtained from the present study were compiled and appropriate statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS. Results: Out of the cases, normal CTG was found in 89 cases and abnormal CTG was found in 23 cases. Among these 23 cases, normal outcome was found in 21 cases (93.1%) and abnormal outcome in 2 cases (6.9%). The specificity, sensitivity, negative predictive value and positive predictive value for antepartum CTG was 92.5%, 20.5%, 81.9% and 49.3%, respectively. Conclusion: This study revealed that CTG shows more accuracy in case of healthy fetus that a normal CTG almost always gave a normal fetal outcome. But if CTG showed abnormality, the fetal outcome may be normal. So a more accurate correlation with other biophysical and biochemical parameters of fetus is to be done for further evaluation.