Graph analysis of uterine networks using EHG source connectivity

Abstract

Emerging evidence show that the connectivity analysis of the uterine signals is a powerful tool in characterizing pregnancy and labor contractions. Here, we present the results of studying the connectivity between uterine sources identified from the electrohysterogram (EHG) signals, which reflects the electrical activity of the uterine muscle. We started by evaluating the effect of the two key steps involved in EHG source connectivity processing: i) the algorithm used in the solution of the inverse problem and ii) the method used for the estimation of the functional connectivity. We evaluate three different inverse solutions (to reconstruct the dynamics of uterine sources) and three connectivity measures (to compute statistical couplings between the reconstructed sources). The networks obtained by each combination of the inverse/connectivity methods were compared to a reference network (ground truth) generated by the model. The method was then applied to real EHG signals in order to discriminate pregnancy and labor contractions.