Technology to predict premature births

Ángel Rubén Molina Conde

UGR, Universidad de Granada, Spain

Research
Little is known about preterm birth as there is no available test that accurately predicts a preterm birth with enough anticipation to allow effective actions.

The PBP/cerviscan device is indicated for preterm birth and risk associated prognosis. Overall, the PBP/cerviscan device gives rapid, actionable information to clinicians, reducing the distress and suffering of women and their new-borns, as well as reducing the length of hospital stays. As PBP/cerviscan evaluates the clinical success and safety of labor induction versus c-sections, it could become a very powerful tool to reduce unnecessary c-sections.

Aim
To get a functional clinical device, which will aid in the assessment of induction process success probability and especially in the accurate prediction of preterm birth risk with enough anticipation to reduce the associated health problems and infant mortality.

Problem to Solve
Preterm birth is defined as delivery before 37 completed weeks of gestation and comprises spontaneous-onset preterm deliveries, and its reduction has been set up as a Millenium Objective by the UN. Preterm born infants remain vulnerable to diverse complications, including respiratory, gastrointestinal, immunological and neurological. Preterm births are estimated to be around 11.1% of live births worldwide. At the present time, Bishop’s test predicts a preterm labour within hours, however the time frame is short for sufficient anticipation to allow effective actions. Thus, accurate methods for prediction and accompanying therapies are greatly needed.

Innovation
The project is based on the development of an innovative device to accurately predict preterm birth and risk with anticipation enough to implement effective actions. In addition, the device gives an induction success probability assessment.

Level of Innovation
Although other technologies are being developed to predict preterm risk, PBP/cerviscan offers added value, as it assesses the induction success probability, which could prevent unnecessary c-section surgeries, as well as diminishing infant mortality.