New publication - Review of 1502 cases of ECG-ST waveform analysis in a teaching hospital
Review of the first 1502 cases of ECG-ST waveform analysis during labour in a teaching hospital
Doria V, Papageorghiou AT, Gustavsson A, Ugwumadu A, Arulkumaran S.
BJOG 2007;114:1202-1207
The aim of this study was to evaluate and report the strengths and weaknesses of introducing CTG-ST analysis during labour in a teaching hospital set up. St George’s Hospital in London has over 4,000 deliveries per year and is a regional tertiary referral centre for perinatal medicine. STAN was first introduced in June 2002, and 1,502 women out of 14,890 were monitored until December 31, 2005. In 56% of the cases, umbilical cord blood gases were available. During the study period there were 35 cases (0.27%) with neonatal encephalopathy, out of which 14 were monitored with STAN. The retrospective analyse of these 14 cases highlights the continuing problem of poor CTG interpretation, delayed action and non-adherence to guidelines. The authors conclude that better training in CTG and ST analysis, assessment and supervision of users may help improve outcome.
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