Philips is releasing a fetal monitoring device in the United States designed to help pregnant women and their physicians keep a close eye on what’s going on in the womb, while maintaining respect for ongoing social distancing recommendations. The Avalon CL Fetal and Maternal Pod and Patch are being made available thanks to the current emergency guidelines unveiled by the FDA in April in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The system allows clinicians to keep a continuous eye on the mother’s and child’s heart rates, as well as uterine activity, for 48 hours straight using a single patch while the patients are at home. The patch is disposable and can easily be placed on the belly by the mother once the previous one has served its life. “Remote monitoring during labor has always provided multiple benefits to expectant mothers, including comfort, mobility, and flexibility. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for mobile solutions during pregnancy is greater than ever,” said Peter Ziese, General Manager, Monitoring & Analytics at Philips. “Philips has been dedicated to providing the best quality care for expectant mothers for more than fifty years. This new solution builds on our commitment to provide integrated continuous monitoring capabilities for high risk pregnancies. With this new patch, clinicians now have access to an innovative tool to help monitor pregnant women during COVID-19, helping to deliver comfort to these mothers during a particularly stressful time.” The system already has the EU CE Mark and is also available in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. “The fact that the new sensors are disposable and don’t require constant repositioning has been particularly useful for us in the peak of the COVID-19 wave in March and April in Lisbon,” said Prof. Dr. Diogo Ayres-de-Campos, University of Lisbon, and President-Elect of the European Association of Perinatal Medicine (EAPM). Source
