GRACE: Global Research Consortium of AI in CTG for enhanced outcomes
Research type
Research Study
Full title
GRACE : Global Research Consortium of Artificial Intelligence in Cardiotocography (CTG) for Enhanced Maternal-Fetal Outcomes
IRAS ID
296693
Contact name
TG Teoh
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 4 months, 10 days
Research summary
10 to 15% of foetuses develop features of non-reassuring foetal status (NRFS) during labour. In itself, NRFS is not an adverse event, but is an indicator of an underlying condition that may result in either temporary or permanent hypoxia for the foetus. Prolonged foetal hypoxia is associated with a significant chance of debilitating long-term complications, such as epilepsy, cerebral palsy, and, in some cases still birth or neonatal death.
The most common method to screen for NRFS in high resource settings is through electronic foetal heart rate monitoring (EFM) in the form of continuous cardiotocography (CTG). Despite being the accepted standard of care in high-resource settings, it is a labour-intensive investigation which is not reliably interpreted by health care professionals. As such, there has been a growing push to, at least in part, automate the interpretation of continuous CTG through the use of artificial intelligence (AI).This study aims to provide population level benefits in the coming years for both high and low resource settings. In order to overcome the drawbacks of CTG interpretation highlighted above, this study aims to automate the CTG interpretation of NRFS through the use of artificial intelligence (AI). We hypothesize that this AI-based technology will be able to recognise and highlight episodes of NRFS on CTG traces. This study will therefore help drive improvement in quality of care in labour globally, as it is estimated that approximately half of all stillbirths and a quarter of neonatal deaths result from complications during labour and childbirth, which remains a major concern for women, their families and the healthcare professionals who are tasked with providing gold-standard care for them.
REC name
London - Chelsea Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/PR/0552
Date of REC Opinion
21 Jun 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion