Recommended standards for fetal magnetocardiography

Fetal magnetocardiography (FMCG) is increasingly being used in research and diagnostics of fetal heart function. Currently FMCG is the only noninvasive procedure available, comparable to postnatal ECG, which can be used to assess cardiac electrophysiology during the second and third trimester of pregnancy. For a reliable evaluation and full clinical acceptance of this new technique, large numbers of patient investigations are required which can only be obtained in multicenter studies. An international standard protocol is needed to allow pooling of sufficient data and to permit the comparison of studies performed in different centers. This article provides recommended standards for FMCG in the fields of data acquisition and data analysis.