Obstetric Monitors Designed to Track Triplets

A new system enables non-invasive fetal monitoring of triplets with a single monitor that displays the three fetal heart rates, along with the mother's heart rate, on a color touch-screen.

The Avalon FM20 antepartum and Avalon FM30 intrapartum fetal and maternal monitors use three channels of high-quality ultrasound tracing and check coincidence between the heart rates of the mother and all fetuses to help ensure each fetus is being monitored.

A trace-separation feature allows users to stack multiple traces along the vertical scale, which adjusts to ensure the traces can be read clearly; while a transducer-finder feature identifies which transducer is monitoring each heart rate, and when a user selects any fetal heart rate on the monitor display, the corresponding transducer lights up.

Both systems track maternal blood pressure, pulse, and uterine activity. The Avalon FM30 also monitors the mother's electrocardiogram (ECG), and her blood oxygen saturation level. The monitor covers patients from the onset of contractions through the final stages of delivery, including a full set of external and internal fetal parameters, such as direct fetal heart rate and intrauterine pressure.

The Avalon monitors were developed by Philips Medical Systems (Best, The Netherlands), and are based on the IntelliVue patient monitoring platform. Data from the monitors can be automatically transmitted to the Philips OB TraceVue obstetrical information system.

"With the worldwide increase in the birth rate for triplets, we're pleased to pioneer non-invasive triplets monitoring in a single monitor,” said David Russell, vice president of global marketing and patient monitoring at Philips Medical Systems. "Triplets monitoring is yet another example of our long-standing commitment to developing sophisticated, advanced obstetrical care products for clinicians and patients that are accurate, reliable, and extremely intuitive to operate.”



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