EP09.47: Speckle tracking assessment of the fetal cardiac function in early labour: pathophysiology and association with adverse outcome.

This article, titled "Speckle tracking assessment of the fetal cardiac function in early labour: pathophysiology and association with adverse outcome," explores the relationship between speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) assessment of fetal cardiac function, cardiotocography (CTG), and labor outcome in a group of singleton term pregnancies. The study found that there was a negative correlation between the right ventricle (RV) global radial strain (GRS) and baseline fetal heart rate (FHR) and birthweight percentile. Additionally, higher left ventricle (LV) and RV myocardial and endocardial global longitudinal strain (MyoGLS and EndoGLS) were observed in cases that underwent operative delivery (OD) due to suspected intrapartum fetal compromise (IFC). The study concludes that an increased RV strain was observed with reducing birthweight and baseline FHR, and higher cardiac strain was shown in cases undergoing OD due to suspected IFC, regardless of birthweight. [Extracted from the article]