🤰 A new wearable ultrasound patch, UPatch, can continuously monitor babies in the womb, offering a potential improvement over intermittent hospital-based scans for early detection of pregnancy complications.

💡 The UPatch technology aims to overcome limitations of current methods, such as high false alarm rates with continuous heart rate monitoring and the need for skilled operators for handheld ultrasound devices.

📈 Tested in US and UK trials with 62 pregnant participants, UPatch showed close agreement with standard handheld ultrasound for blood flow measurements, and continuously monitored foetal heart rate and blood flow in 52 women, successfully identifying a severe case of intrauterine growth restriction that led to a necessary caesarean delivery.

🔗 Future development includes a wireless version for continuous use at home and during daily activities, with potential benefits for low-resource areas and advancing academic understanding of fetal development.

#MedTech #PregnancyTech #Innovation