Antepartum Fetal Arrythmia: A Case Report

Abstract

On a number of occasions fetal heart arrythmias have been detected during the course of routine antepartum patient examination. A case is presented to illustrate the difficulty of making a definitive diagnosis of the nature of the arrythmia, and its significance in relation to fetal status. Investigation included stressed and nonstressed FHR monitoring, but a definitive diagnosis could not be made during the antepartum period and the patient could, therefore, not be assured of the essentially benign nature of the arrythmia until shortly after the birth of her child. The electrocardiogram obtained from external fetal electrocardiographic monitoring is not sufficiently refined to aid in the antepartum diagnosis of fetal cardiac arrythmias.

Intrauterine Fetal Arrhythmia: Atrial Premature Beats

“…The detection of fetal arrhythmia before and during labor presents difficulties in the diagnosis as well as in interpretation and management. A wide range of fetal cardiac arrhythmias have been reported: congenital heart block, ventricular or atrial premature beats, supraventricular tachycardia and flutter (2,4,5,7,10). In cases of premature beats, the arrhythmia was related to factors such as maternal fever, intrauterine infection (10) and maternal stress (2).…”