New At-Home Fetal Heart Rate Monitor with Clinical Accuracy

These days patients that are still in the womb have their heart rates measured on a regular basis to spot conditions such as fetal bradycardia or tachycardia or decreased variability. This is typically done in a hospital using specialty equipment that is too expensive for use in the home. Now researchers at the University of Essex in the UK have developed a new sensor that can be by the pregnant mother at home while achieving an accuracy that rivals that of in-clinic equipment.
Existing fetal monitoring relies on silver chloride electrodes and ultrasound, but the U of Essex device works like an electrometer using so-called Electric Potential Sensing (EPS) technology. This allows their prototype to be positioned directly on the pregnant woman’s abdomen to measure the heart rate without having to use a gel or having electronic leads snaking to another device.