Wearable ultrasound patch could help doctors spot warning signs of pregnancy early

Now, as a major step forward, nature biotechnologyled by researchers Professor Antoniya Georgieva The Oxford University PhD and founder of Safer Birth Ltd is the first to demonstrate the feasibility of a small, wearable patch that can monitor a baby’s blood flow during pregnancy. In the future, mothers may be able to wear it as they go about their daily lives, instead of going to the hospital for an ultrasound that only provides doctors with a snapshot of their baby’s health.

Led by Professor Georgieva oxford labor monitoring research team Nuffield Women’s Reproductive Health Bureau Focuses on innovations and new tools for monitoring pregnancy and childbirth. To specifically develop the ultrasonic patch (UPatch), she collaborated with Professor Sheng Xu (a world leader in the development of novel soft electronics) and Tom Parks (a doctoral student in her lab) from an excellent team at the University of California, San Diego and Stanford University. This truly interdisciplinary research involved close transatlantic collaboration, building on decades of complementary expertise from both teams.

The soft UPatch went through 14 prototype iterations within the study. It sits on the mother’s abdomen and captures the baby’s anatomy and blood flow over time. The software automatically tracks blood vessels as the baby and mother move, providing information about the baby’s blood flow over time without the need for a specialized sonographer.

The technology was initially designed to be attached to the neck of comatose adult patients in intensive care units to monitor blood pressure. But because these patients are immobile, researchers had to adapt and refine the patch to accommodate a moving baby in a moving mother.

The device was tested in 62 pregnancies against standard clinical ultrasound systems and showed strong agreement with routine fetal biometric measurements commonly used in obstetric ultrasound reports and clinical decision-making. The researchers then used the patch in continuous monitoring sessions lasting one to six hours in 52 pregnant women, including pregnancies affected by preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, hypertension, and poor fetal growth.

The study found that the device could continuously detect important changes in fetal blood flow that could indicate placental insufficiency or developing fetal damage. In one case with severe preeclampsia, the patch identified blood flow abnormalities, prompting increased monitoring and delivery by cesarean section four days later.

Researchers say this technology could ultimately help clinicians distinguish between short-lived fluctuations and persistent signs of fetal distress. This could allow for earlier intervention while reducing unnecessary hospitalizations, appointments and repeat scans.

Professor Antoniya Georgievasenior author and researcher at the University of Oxford Nuffield Women’s Reproductive Health Bureau“We still cannot reliably monitor babies in the womb, and this is a major gap in obstetric care around the world, with major implications.” A solution is urgently needed. UPatch technology opens the possibility of monitoring the most important signals about fetal health over time, gaining important new knowledge about how a baby’s oxygen supply and health adapt in the womb, and ultimately allowing clinicians to identify problems earlier. We would like to thank all the members of the wider team who have worked so hard on this project, and we are especially grateful to the wonderful pregnant volunteers who have made this wonderful outcome possible. ”

Professor Shen Shua senior author and engineer now based at Stanford University, added, “This study shows how advances in soft electronics, ultrasound engineering, and clinical science can work together to address one of the most important unmet needs in pregnancy care.”

“This technology has the potential to expand access to prenatal imaging in medical deserts and low-resource settings, where care for high-risk pregnancies is often delayed due to a lack of trained sonographers,” said Dr. Tom Park, lead author and principal engineer who designed and created UPatch.

mariana tome“This is the kind of technology obstetrics has been waiting for, and it has the potential to transform pregnancy care by helping women feel safer, more secure and better supported throughout their pregnancy, while reducing unnecessary hospital visits, repeated tests and avoidable interventions,” said co-author and an obstetrician based in Nuffield Women’s and Reproductive Health.

Researchers say the technology could be particularly valuable in detecting and monitoring complications in high-risk pregnancies affected by conditions such as fetal growth restriction, hypertension, and pre-eclampsia, where low oxygen and placental insufficiency can lead to serious complications such as stillbirth. Researchers say this could allow women to feel safer and receive better support, especially in high-risk pregnancies where concerns about fetal health can cause significant anxiety.

This research was supported by Wellcome Leap through its In Utero program, which aims to develop scalable technologies to better understand fetal development during pregnancy.

Although current systems still use a wired back-end setup, researchers say future miniature electronics could allow devices to be completely wireless, allowing for wider deployment in both hospitals and communities.

The paper isFetal monitoring of high-risk pregnancies using wearable ultrasound patches” is published. nature biotechnology.