DOHA: Researchers supported by Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) are using signal detection to improve monitoring of the health of developing foetuses, with the promise of significant potential benefits for women.
Through existing technology, movements of a foetus can be read over time to detect any unusual patterns or a reduction in activity. However, this requires a level of expertise based on signal analysis and interpretation techniques that have been largely overlooked until now, said QNRF.
Dr Boualem Boashash of Qatar University’s College of Engineering, along with Australian colleagues from the University of Queensland’s Centre for Clinical Research and the University of Melbourne’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, are conducting research under QNRF’s National Priorities Research Programme (NPRP) on how to best use these techniques to monitor foetal health.
“There are two major variables in a signal - time and frequency,” Dr Boashash explained. “The way our approach differs from classical techniques is that we are going to use these two variables concurrently. This is major step because, in the past, either time-delineated or frequency information was used, but not the two combined. It would be like trying to represent a person by just looking at the height while the person’s weight and other factors are ignored.”
The team has developed a sensor system that, when placed on the mother’s stomach, detects signals from movements in the womb. The nature of these signals can be determined to detect any abnormalities in foetal development. To ensure that the mother’s movement is not mistaken for that of the foetus, a separate sensor is positioned on her back and those signals are read separately.
“Sadly, some babies die in the womb following a period of time of decreased movements. The aim of this project is to infer, from recordings of the foetal movements, what the health of the foetus is and try to make a decision before it is too late,” he said.
This technology allows for continuous monitoring of the foetus so that any unusual signal patterns will be instantly sent to the physician. This would eliminate the need for frequent visits to the doctor and would, at the same time, monitor the health of the baby more effectively.
The team is also working on newborn monitor systems that work on the same premise, whereby signals from an infant’s brainwaves are transferred into sensors placed in a ‘hat’ worn just after birth.
According to Dr Boashash, the research is especially important in Qatar, where the privacy afforded by such technologies would encourage more families to use them. Dr Boashash and his team have published their findings widely and are now trialling the monitoring systems in Australia to test them in Qatar soon. The Peninsula
