International expert consensus statement on physiological interpretation of cardiotocograph (CTG): First revision (2024)

Abstract

The first international consensus guideline on physiological interpretation of cardiotocograph (CTG) produced by 44 CTG experts from 14 countries was published in 2018. This guideline ensured a paradigm shift from classifying CTG by arbitrarily grouping certain features of the fetal heart rate into different “categories”, and then, randomly combining them to arrive at an overall classification of CTG traces into “Normal, Suspicious and Pathological” (or Category I, II and III) to a classification which is based on the understanding of fetal pathophysiology. The guideline recommended the recognition of different types of fetal hypoxia, and the determination of features of fetal compensatory responses as well as decompensation to ongoing hypoxic stress on the CTG trace. Since its first publication in 2018, there have been several scientific publications relating physiological interpretation of CTG, especially relating to features indicative of autonomic instability due to hypoxic stress (i.e., the ZigZag pattern), and of fetal inflammation. Moreover, emerging evidence has suggested improvement in maternal and perinatal outcomes in maternity units which had implemented physiological interpretation of CTG. Therefore, the guideline on Physiological Interpretation of CTG has been revised to incorporate new scientific evidence, and the interpretation table has been expanded to include features of chorioamnionitis and relative utero-placental insufficiency of labour (RUPI-L).