Stillbirth tragically ends 3 million pregnancies globally every year. Disappointingly these rates have not changed in decades. The only real time measure we have of fetal wellbeing in pregnancy is the fetal heart rate measured by the cardiotocograph. This is an ultrasound based machine that is hospital-centric and clinician intensive. It must be placed directly over the fetal heart otherwise it frequently loses signal and can erroneously detect the maternal heartbeat, leaving the baby dangerously unmonitored.
With a team of electronic engineers and clinicians we have developed a pregnancy wearable. It consists of hardware smaller than a smart phone and a sensor patch that is positioned once that continuously detects the fetal heart rate, maternal heart rate and uterine activity. Using deep learning we demonstrated our device reliably detected the fetal heart rate 95.1% compared with traditional algorithms at 81% in a validation cohort of 52 pregnant women (p<0.0001). We have shown 90% of pregnant women surveyed (n=70) were interested in remote fetal monitoring. We are now translating this technology and navigating a pivotal device, regulatory and commercialisation strategies.
We have developed a wearable fetal monitoring device that could be used remotely to monitor fetal wellbeing. This has potential to revolutionise fetal monitoring by detecting fetal asphyxia and reducing stillbirth.