After 15 years of studies on labor and delivery, the labor monitoring device developed by Tammy Euliano, her husband, Neil, and his engineering team has achieved FDA clearance.
The device, marketed by OBMedical, uses an array of electrodes on the maternal abdomen to report uterine activity, fetal heart rate, and maternal heart rate. It wirelessly interfaces directly to existing maternal-fetal monitoring units, providing clinicians waveforms with fewer dropouts and higher reliability than toco and ultrasound.
The device is non-invasive, and unaffected by maternal size, thus obese patients will no longer routinely require internal monitors. The electrode array, once positioned, requires no adjustment with maternal or fetal movement, reducing nursing intervention, and patients report improved comfort compared to the Velcro belts.