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​Summary:​

  • Birth hypoxia is a significant clinical problem that can lead to severe medical conditions, such as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), jeopardizing newborns to long-term neurological disorders. Currently, there is not yet an on-side clinical device that can provide real-time monitoring of the fetal brain status during labor and delivery.

  • This project aims to design and implement a novel, safe, point-of-care imaging system around clinical transvaginal ultrasound (TVUS) transducers for potential intrapartum imaging of the fetal brain status.

  • A prototype of an integrated Photoacoustic and TVUS imaging system was developed and implemented in ex-vivo and in-vivo studies. It showed promising results toward non-invasively monitoring the fetal brain status during labor and delivery.

References:

  1. Yan, Yan, et al. "Endocavity ultrasound and photoacoustic system for fetal and maternal imaging: design, implementation, and ex-vivo validation." Journal of Medical Imaging 8.6 (2021): 066001.

  2. Yan, Yan, et al. "Endocavity ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging system to evaluate fetal brain perfusion and oxygenation: Preliminary ex vivo studies." 2017 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS). IEEE, 2017. 

  3. Mehrmohammadi, Mohammad, et al. "Ultrasound and photoacoustic systems and methods for fetal brain assessment during delivery." U.S. Patent No. 10,952,700. 23 Mar. 2021. 

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