Obstetrical instrument system and method
AssigneeBiosense, Inc.
InventorsDavid E. Acker, Ze'Ev Weinfeld
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The childbirth process is monitored by applying one or more probes to the mother and monitoring the locations of the probes by transmitting non-ionizing fields such as magnetic fields between the probes and reference elements in proximity to the mother. The magnitude and direction of movement of the probes indicates the magnitude and direction of uterine contractions. Fetal position and cervical dilation may be monitored by providing additional probes attached to the fetus and to the cervix.
Claims31
Apparatus for monitoring birth of a fetus from a mammalian mother comprising:
- (a) one or more maternal probes;
- (b) means for securing said one or more maternal probes to the body of the mother in proximity to the uterus;
- (c) one or more reference elements and means for maintaining the reference elements in proximity to the mother's body
- (d) transmission means to actuate said probes and reference elements to transmit one or more non-ionizing fields and detect the transmitted field, so that each such field is transmitted by one element of a transmitter-receiver pair including a reference element and a maternal probe, and detected by the other element of such pair;
- and
- (e) calculation means to determine the disposition of each maternal probe with respect to said one or more reference elements from properties of the detected fields.
A method of monitoring birth of a fetus from a mammalian mother comprising the steps of:
- (a) securing one or more maternal probes to the body of the mother in proximity to the uterus;
- (b) maintaining one or more reference elements in proximity to the mother's body;
- (c) actuating said probes and reference elements to transmit one or more non-ionizing fields and detect the transmitted fields, so that each such field is transmitted by one element of a transmitter-receiver pair including a reference element and a maternal probe, and detected by the other element of such pair;
- and
- (d) determining the disposition of each maternal probe with respect to said one or more reference elements from properties of the detected fields.
Apparatus for monitoring birth of a fetus from a mammalian mother comprising:
- (a) one or more fetal probes;
- (b) means for securing said fetal probes to the body of the fetus;
- (c) one or more reference elements and means for maintaining the reference elements in proximity to the mother;
- (d) transmission means to actuate said probes to transmit one or more non-ionizing fields and detect the transmitted field, so that each such field is transmitted by one element of a transmitter-receiver pair including a reference element and a fetal probe, and detected by the other element of such pair;
- and
- (e) calculation means to determine the disposition of each fetal probe with respect to said one or more reference elements from properties of the detected fields.
A method of monitoring birth of a fetus from a mammalian mother comprising:
- (a) securing one or more fetal probes to the body of the fetus;
- (b) maintaining one or more reference elements in proximity to the mother;
- (c) actuating said probes to transmit one or more non-ionizing fields and detect the transmitted fields, so that each such field is transmitted by one element of a transmitter-receiver pair -including a reference element and a fetal probe, and detected by the other element of such pair;
- and
- (d) determining the disposition of each fetal probe with respect to said one or more reference elements from properties of the detected fields.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.