Electronic fetal heart rate monitoring with intrauterine fetal demise.

Management of patients during labor is often based upon interpretation of electronic fetal heart rate tracings. Misdiagnoses of these records can lead to inappropriate actions, including cesarean delivery for presumed fetal distress. This case study, using a heart rate tracing from a patient with intrauterine fetal death, describes the findings, reviews the origin of the electronic signal, and outlines the means to distinguish the fetal and maternal cardiac impulses.