Wearable ultrasound patch monitors fetal health without a sonographer

UC San Diego Wearable Ultrasound Patch Monitors High-Risk Pregnancies Without a Sonographer

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a soft, wearable ultrasound device that can continuously monitor fetal health for hours at a time, removing the need for a trained sonographer to hold a probe. The technology, called UPatch, was published Monday in Nature Biotechnology and represents the first wearable system capable of real-time fetal imaging and blood flow tracking through the umbilical cord during routine maternal movement.nature

How the Patch Works

The UPatch uses an array of miniature piezoelectric transducers embedded in a flexible silicone patch that adheres to the pregnant abdomen. Real-time image segmentation powered by machine learning allows the device to autonomously track target blood vessels even as the fetus and umbilical cord shift position. Signal quality, the researchers reported, is comparable to that of handheld clinical ultrasound devices.nih

Unlike cardiotocography — which records fetal heart rate and uterine contractions but often leads to false alarms and unnecessary interventions — the UPatch provides continuous Doppler blood flow data that can reveal subtle changes in fetal circulation.sciety

Clinical Validation Across 62 Pregnancies

The team validated the device across 62 pregnancies and collected continuous monitoring data from 52 pregnant women whose conditions ranged from healthy to complicated by gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, gestational hypertension, and fetuses that were small or large for gestational age. During clinical testing, the patch reportedly prompted one early Cesarean delivery that the researchers say may have saved the baby’s life.nih

Professor Sheng Xu, who leads the research group at UC San Diego, said the wearable patch ensures that no data is overlooked, allowing clinicians to “establish a baseline of signals for each individual patient and examine the variations and trends of these signals”.mirror

Path Toward Wireless Home Monitoring

The current proof-of-concept device remains tethered to external electronics and requires a conventional ultrasound scan for initial setup. The team is now developing a wireless version. “Our long-term goal is to create wearable ultrasound that can be used continuously in everyday life, including at home and during daily activities,” said researcher Muyang Lin’s colleague Park, as quoted by The Guardian.theguardian

UC San Diego Health joined the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network earlier this year, positioning the institution to pursue larger-scale trials of devices like UPatch.ucsd