Development of a uterine electrohysterogram system to predict preterm labor
Funder:
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
CU Project Team:
Dr Yuhang Xu
Collaborator:
Beijing University of Science & Technology
Preterm labor which occurs in ~10% of pregnant women is a leading cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity. However, unsatisfactory and inaccurate diagnosis of preterm labor is an immense clinical challenge to the obstetricians.
The reported measurement techniques or devices potentially for predicting preterm labor include tocodynamometer, fetal fibronectin and transvaginal ultrasonography. They are either operator-dependent or suffer from an inherent lack of accuracy. Guidelines of ‘Management of Preterm Labor’ from the ACOG have reviewed these techniques, and concluded that there is currently no reliable preterm prediction technique for routine clinical practice.
Therefore, there is an urgent clinical need to develop alternatives which can improve diagnosis and achieve satisfactory accuracy for routine clinical use.
