Surgery – Truss – Pad
Patent
1989-07-31
1991-12-03
Jaworski, Francis
Surgery
Truss
Pad
12866107, A61B 502, A61B 802
Patent
active
050692186
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
DESCRIPTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a fetus monitoring apparatus for monitoring a fetus in a mother together with the mother and a fetus monitoring system with this fetus monitoring apparatus incorporated therein.
2. Background Art
Suitable methods of supervising a fetus and a mother before and during labor include the monitoring of the fetal heart rate. This monitoring of the fetal heart rate is non-invasive, and enables observation of fetal activity in realtime.
The method of detection of the fetal heart rate employed in the monitoring of a fetus is roughly classified into two types: one, an external measurement and the other, an internal measurement. The outer measurements include (1) fetal phonocardiography, (2) ultrasonic Doppler method, and (3) mother abdomen induced fetal electrocardiography. The internal measurements include infant head induced fetal electrocardiography.
Among these methods, it is the ultrasonic Doppler method which ensures the most effective detection of the fetal heart rate during the NST (non stress test). The second best detection method is the fetal phonocardiography, with the mother abdomen induced fetal electrocardiography being the worst. In the infant head induced fetal electrocardiography, which is the internal measurement, spiral shaped electrodes have to be directly attached to the head of the infant. So, this method can be used only after the amniorrhexis or a rupture of membranes: it cannot be used before delivery. Thus, monitoring of the fetal heart rate which employs any of the external measurements is most useful for fetal observation which is conducted during the NST, because it allows fetal activity to be detected non invasively in realtime.
Generally, the requirements of the fetal monitoring apparatus are as follows: observer to grasp the present conditions at a glance. At the same time, detailed data can be extracted whenever required. help him determine fetal activity when the fetal heart rate exceeds a certain value. It is capable of issuing various types of alarms, depending on the present conditions of the mother and the fetus.
Next, how the conventional fetal monitoring apparatus fulfills the above described requirements, together with its shortcomings or problems, will be described below.
Items I and II
The recording system employed in most of the conventional fetal monitoring apparatus is of an analog type, such as a pen, which is capable of drawing only curves. Only a few of the conventional fetal monitoring apparatuses (e.g., the model 115 manufactured by Corometrics Medical Systems, Inc. (American Home Products)) employs a digital recording system, such as a thermal head, which is capable of recording data using characters. However, such a digital recording system is capable of recording only variations in the heart rate with time. Since a sufficient degree of density cannot be ensured in the recording of data using curves, batch processing may be performed on the variations in the heart rate when fetal activity is to be recorded. However, if batch-processing is performed on the variations in the heart rate after an emergency has arisen on the fetus or the mother, it may take too much time. Hence, during childbirth, a nurse or the like may periodically record the fetal heart rate, the period of labor pains, the time duration of uterine contractions and so on in graphs for fetal monitoring. Also, the mean heart rate may be obtained by looking at the fetal heart rate curve recorded by a pen or the like, if necessary.
It takes about 60 minutes to perform the NST. In the NST, data is recorded at a rate of 3 cm/min. A sheet of recording paper is fed at a rate of 1.8 m to 1.5 cm/min. It has a length of about 0.9 m. It is therefore a very troublesome task to read such a long sheet of recording paper and examine the overall data to observe the time differences between the event marks and the peaks or valleys of the fetal heart rate curve and the relationships between the time differences and the heights of these peaks or the de
REFERENCES:
patent: 3703168 (1972-11-01), Frink
patent: 4569356 (1986-02-01), Kyozuka
Jaworski Francis
Terumo Kabushiki Kaisha
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