Parameters extraction and monitoring in uterine EMG signals. Detection of preterm deliveries

The aim of this paper is to classify between labor contractions and pregnancy contractions. Various types of parameters have been extracted from the electrohysterogram (EHG), mainly from the original EHG or from different frequency bands. They have been computed from different signal databases obtained with different recording protocols. The results of these studies are sometime controversial. The aim of this paper is to compute 17 parameters selected from the literature on the same signal database, either on the original EHG or after wavelet packet decomposition, and then to compare their power to discriminate between contractions recorded during pregnancy and labor. We thus obtain a selection of parameters that allow the best discrimination between pregnancy and labor contractions, when computed on the same signals, either on the original EHG or on selected frequency bands.