Objective: Differences in the cardiac excitation cycle between normotrophic and intrauterine growth-restricted fetuses were to be investigated by fetal magnetocardiography (fMCG).
Study design: In this study, the time intervals of the fMCG signal in dependence on gestational age were compared between a group of 30 growth-restricted fetuses and 60 normotrophic fetuses by using Spearman's correlation coefficient and two-way analyses of variance.
Results: A significantly increasing duration of the P wave and the QRS complex could be observed with advancing gestational age in the normotrophic collective. This prolongation was not evident in the group of growth-restricted fetuses. The QRS complex showed a significant difference between both groups. In regard to the duration of the PR and the QT intervals, neither a distinct increase nor a clear difference between both groups was observable.
Conclusion: In contrast to the observations in the normally grown fetuses, none of the cardiac time intervals in the group of the growth-restricted fetuses were significantly correlated with gestational age. More especially, the results of the QRS complex could be an indicator of the altered conditions when intrauterine life is complicated by intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR).