Cardiotocography

Common card · No. 289530

Cardiotocography (CTG) is a technique used to monitor the fetal heartbeat and uterine contractions during pregnancy and labour. The machine used to perform the monitoring is called a cardiotocograph. Fetal heart sounds were described as early as 350 years ago and approximately 200 years ago mechanical stethoscopes, such as the Pinard horn, were introduced in clinical practice. Modern-day CTG was developed and introduced in the 1950s and early 1960s by Edward Hon, Roberto Caldeyro-Barcia, and Konrad Hammacher. The first commercial fetal monitor (Hewlett-Packard 8020A) was released in 1968. CTG monitoring is widely used, mainly during labour, to assess fetal well-being by identifying babies at risk of hypoxia (lack of oxygen). A review found that in the antenatal period (before labour), there is no evidence to suggest that monitoring women with high-risk pregnancies benefits the mother or baby, although research around this is old and should be interpreted with caution. Up-to-date research...

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