Leading Edge Only has recently published details of a revolutionary device for determining fetal movement during labour.
The device is a modified amniotomy hook with a sliding measuring device along its shaft. It measures the distance from posterior fourchette to the leading part of the head and gives a result, in station, below or above the ischial spines, enabling the healt care professional to know exactly when to tell the mother to push.
The device can also be customised to account for variations in the woman’s pelvic size. A smaller version uses a wireless internal device that measures the rate of head descent and sends signals to a PDA on which the woman can see real-time feedback about the position of the head and progress in labour.
Vaginal examination in labour is very subjective, especially for the assessment of fetal head station. This results in inconsistency between different assessors and difficulty in communication on labour wards. It also presents a legal risk if the station is inaccurately assessed prior to operative vaginal delivery.
Women with epidurals often have difficulty pushing leading to high rates of operative vaginal delivery. A biofeedback method whereby they can visualise head station in real time would assist in progress during delivery, and reduce rates of intervention.
Currently there are no other devices that can accurately assess fetal head station. The closest competitor uses external ultrasonic triangulating probes and fetal head clips to assess relative position.
The device is simple, low cost and easy to use and its similarity to the simple amniotomy hook makes it acceptable to midwives and doctors.
The smaller version is the first conveniently-practical device in the world to provide real-time feedback, based on the familiarity of the mobile phone/PDA format.
Scott Sharp, founder and chief executive of Leading Edge Only, said: “We are very excited about this revolutionary technology. With approximately 10 million births per annum across the EU and US, the developers expect to capture 10% of the market, but for the electronic version much more routine usage is anticipated.”
