Study of the relationships between electrical and mechanical activities in the pregnant monkey's uterus

Abstract

The efficiency of uterine contraction is usually measured by the intra uterine pressure (IUP) clinically measured through the deformation of the woman's abdomen. This indirect measurement can be inaccurate sometimes. The objective of this research is to identify in the electrical bursts, generated by the uterus during contraction electrohysterogram (EHG), some parameters that can give direct information on the IUP. In this paper, we explore the correlation that can exist between temporal, energetic as well as frequency EHG parameter and the IUP curve. Preliminary results show the existence of strong correlations between several evaluated parameters and the IUP. It suggests that non invasive recording of the electrical activity of the uterus is a promising tool for pregnancy monitoring giving thus, non invasively, direct information on the mechanical activity of the uterus.

Keywords:

• uterine contraction
• uterus
• intra uterine pressure
• electrohysterogram

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the ‘Pôle régional GBM périnatilité’ of the Picardie region.