FETAL MONITORING DEVICE AND METHODS

• US 20130245436A1
• Filed: 12/21/2012
• Published: 09/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: LifeWave Biomedical, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Joe Paul Jr. Tupin, Stephan Stephansen IV
• Inventors: Tupin, Joe Paul Jr., Tupin, Joe Paul, Stephansen, Stephan IV
• Application Number:
  US13/725,825
• Publication Number:
  US 20130245436A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/430
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02411 of foetuses
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/05 Detecting, measuring or recording for diagnosis by means of electric currents or magnetic fields; Measuring using microwaves or radio waves impedance plethysmography A61B5/0295; measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof A61B5/11; detecting, measuring or recording bioelectric or biomagnetic signals of the body or parts thereof A61B5/24
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0816 Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/344 Foetal cardiography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4356 Assessing uterine contractions A61B5/033 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4362 Assessing foetal parameters
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6823 Trunk, e.g., chest, back, abdomen, hip
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6833 Adhesive patches
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/0209 Systems with very large relative bandwidth, i.e. larger than 10 %, e.g. baseband, pulse, carrier-free, ultrawideband
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/56 for presence detection presence detection using near field arrangements G01V3/00, e.g. G01V3/08, G01V3/12; burglar, theft or intruder alarms with electrical actuation G08B13/22 - G08B13/26
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/88 Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications electromagnetic prospecting or detecting of objects, e.g. near-field detection, G01V3/00

Abstract

Described herein are fetal and/or maternal monitoring devices, systems and methods using UWB medical radar. These devices and systems may include a UWB sensor providing high-resolution and reliable simultaneous monitoring of multiple indicators of fetal and/or maternal health, such as fetal heart rate, fetal heart rate variability, fetal respiration, fetal gross body movement, maternal contractions, maternal heart rate, maternal respiration, and other derivative parameters during virtually all stages of pregnancy and during delivery. The sensor allows novel collection of physiological data using a single sensor or multiple sensors to develop individual and aggregate normal motion indices for use in determining when departure from normal motion index is indicative of fetal or maternal distress.

Claims

1. An ultra-wideband (UWB) fetal monitoring system capable of concurrent monitoring of indicators of fetal and maternal health, the system comprising:

a sensor configured for receiving and transmission of UWB signal data, the sensor comprising at least one antenna; and

a signal processor configured to receive signal data from the sensor and to process the information into a matrix of reflected signals indexed by depth and time, wherein the signal processor is programmed to;

determine at least two waveform patterns from the matrix of reflected signals, wherein a first waveform corresponds to a first maternal anatomical structure and a second waveform corresponds to a first fetal anatomical structure;

identify the first maternal anatomical structure and the first fetal anatomical structure based on pattern recognition of the first waveform and the second waveform; and

extract from the matrix of reflected signals a plurality of indicators of fetal heath and maternal health based on the determination of at least two waveform patterns and the identification of the maternal anatomical structure and the fetal anatomical structure.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first maternal anatomical structure is the anterior wall of the maternal uterus and the first fetal anatomical structure is a fetal heart.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the signal processor is further programmed to determine a third waveform pattern from the matrix of reflected signals, wherein the third waveform corresponds to a second maternal anatomical structure.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the second anatomical structure is selected from the group consisting of the posterior wall of the maternal uterus and the maternal aorta.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the signal processor is further programmed to identify the second maternal anatomical structure based on pattern recognition of the third waveform.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the signal processor is further programmed to extract from the matrix of reflected signals an additional indicator of maternal health based on the determination of the third waveform pattern and the identification of the second maternal anatomical structure.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of indicators of fetal heath and maternal health are selected from the group consisting of maternal heart rate, fetal heart rate, maternal uterine contraction rate, maternal respiration rate, and fetal kick rate.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the signal processor is further programmed to distinguish maternal heart rate from fetal heart rate when the fetal heart rate is near or below the maternal heart rate.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises an array of antennas.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the array of antennas is arranged in a 2-dimensional configuration.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the array of antennas is arranged in a trapezoid configuration.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the signal processor is further programmed to determine a third waveform pattern from the matrix of reflected signals, wherein the third waveform corresponds to a second fetal anatomical structure.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the first fetal anatomical structure is a first fetal heart and the second fetal anatomical structure is a second fetal heart.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the first fetal anatomical structure is a first fetal heart and the second fetal anatomical structure is a fetal limb.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the pattern recognition comprises an evaluation of one or more properties of the waveform patterns, wherein the properties are selected from the group consisting of amplitude, frequency, shape and width.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the pattern recognition comprises an evaluation of the waveform pattern shape.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the pattern recognition comprises applying a matched filter to the waveforms.