HEARTBEAT
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Reducing the time taken to identify potential heart arrhythmia in high-risk babies and mothers
IRAS ID
356353
Contact name
Catherine Williamson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 10 months, 24 days
Research summary
Abnormal heart rhythms in unborn babies (fetal arrhythmias) are reported to affect approximately 2% of pregnancies and occur due to a number of causes, including maternal metabolic disease, other maternal medical conditions, congenital heart disease and fetal arrhythmia due to altered electrical circuits in the fetal heart.
Monitoring the hearts of these babies poses a number of challenges, the most notable of which is that there is no current system in clinical practice that has the ability to observe the fetal heart rhythm over a prolonged period of time. Currently, a technique called fetal echocardiography (fECG) is considered the most useful way to identify any potential fetal heart arrhythmia, but one current drawback of this method is the time delay in being able to interpret the data obtained from the fetal heart. This delay means that action needed to be taken to safeguard the unborn baby (bringing the birth forward for example) takes too long and any risk is therefore not reduced.
In this study we will aim to identify ways that can reduce the time taken to interpret data obtained using fECGs leading to positive action from clinicians (such as the baby being born earlier) and therefore reducing the risk of stillbirth.
We will also collect blood samples from women which may help to identify biomarkers (substances in the blood that might be directly linked to any findings on the data from the fECG) in women with complications of pregnancy compared to those with uncomplicated pregnancies. Identifying these markers could help to reduce the risk of stillbirth. Electrocardiography (ECG) will be performed just after birth to give comparative measurements between the in-utero fECG and neonatal ECG
REC name
London - Queen Square Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
26/LO/0068
Date of REC Opinion
26 Feb 2026
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion