‘Breakthrough’ technology greeted the greatest development in fetal monitoring in 50 years

For the first time, health workers can be able to accurately follow the oxygen level in babies during delivery to prevent major health problems and unnecessary emergency procedures.

Experts have described the “breakthrough technology”, developed in Western Australia, as a world-first and the greatest development in fetal monitoring in 50 years.

The VitalTrace device attaches itself to the head of the baby and sends small, continuous electrodes to measure the heartbeat and level of the baby’s lactate that can detect fetal need.

University of WA Professor Jane Pillow described the device as “the first breakthrough in fetal monitoring that we have had since the 1960s”.

She said that the current method of fetal monitoring was not a “good predictor” of how good oxygen was delivered to the baby during delivery, she said.

“The problem with that is … Sometimes we miss babies who don’t get oxygen so well,” she said.

“And at other times the diagnosis of when they don’t get oxygen can be considerably delayed, and the result for babies is really devastating.”

A lack of oxygen can lead to death, but often it is the cause of important health problems such as cerebral palsy, brain damage and organ function complications.

Emily Stone said it could take care of mothers again.

“There were times during the birth of my daughter, when her heartbeat could not be discovered,” she said.

“It can be quite frightening in what is already an intense experience.

“If this device was available, it would have just given me more peace of mind that she was healthy and safe.”

Reducing intervention

Midwifery and assistant professor and the University of WA Scott White said that the new development had the potential to halve unnecessary caesarean sections and describe it as “an absolute revolution in the birth”.

“It enables us to better identify those babies who are compromised,” said Mrs. Scott.

“But just as important, it enables us to reduce the interventions that we apply unnecessarily to women, which is a really in -depth health result.”

Mr. Scott explained that one of the well -known side effects of traditional heart rate monitoring is inaccuracy.

“At the moment we are looking at changes in the heart rate pattern of the baby, which requires a lot of training, skill and interpretation and therefore mistakes can happen,” Scott said.

“When you use an indirect measure, you get false positive results and false negative results … [and] It tells us that baby’s are unhappy if they are often not.

“But this device is much more accurate so that we can leave babies safely when they are safe and those babies who really have to be delivered more accurately recognize.”

The device took about seven years to develop and the technology is comparable to what people with diabetes use to control their glucose content.

Co-founder and Chief Executive Arjun Kaushik of VitalTrace said that the answer to the device had been overwhelming.

“The enthusiasm to hire this device cannot be overestimated, I think this is an area of medicine that has long been served in technology,” he said.

Both the state and the federal government have supported the device, whereby the state government contributes around $ 5 million to the development of technology.

Early tests with the technology were involved 20 mothers who participated nationally.

But professionals hope that there will be a larger test to test the efficiency and reliability of the devices with the aim of getting approval of the regulatory authorities in 2027.

Loading …Load