The disclosed apparatus, systems and methods relate to tracking abdominal orientation and activity for purposes of preventing or treating conditions of pregnancy, respiratory diseases or other types of medical conditions. In certain specific embodiments, the system, device, or method relates to identifying abdominal or sleep position orientation risk values, calculating and updating a cumulative risk value, comparing the cumulative risk value to a threshold, and outputting a warning when the cumulative risk value crosses the threshold.

Light reflected from a pregnant woman's abdomen and fetus contained therein that has been received by a detector and converted into a reflected electronic signal may be received by a processor. A portion of the reflected electronic signal that is reflected from the fetus may be isolated and the isolated portion of the reflected electronic signal may be analyzed to determine a fetal hemoglobin oxygen saturation level of the fetus. The isolation may be achieved by synchronizing the reflected electronic signal with a fetal heartbeat signal and multiplying the synchronized reflected electronic signal by the synchronized fetal heartbeat signal.

Independent component analysis may be performed on a plurality of detected electronic signals to separate signals within the detected electronic signals that are contributed by different sources. Each of the plurality of detected electronic signals may be received from a separate detector and may correspond to a detected optical signal emanating from a pregnant mammal's abdomen and a fetus contained therein. The detected optical signals may correspond to light that is projected into the pregnant mammal's abdomen from a light source. The separated signals may be analyzed to determine a separated signal that corresponds to light incident upon the fetus, which may be analyzed to determine a fetal hemoglobin oxygen saturation level of the fetus. An indication of the fetal hemoglobin oxygen saturation level may then be provided to the user.

Methods and apparatus for reducing the risk of neurological injury to a human fetus during labor and before are disclosed, which include the steps of: (1) identifying during labor the risk of neurological injury to a fetus by, conducting an analysis of fetal blood to determine at least a first base excess (BE) value for the fetus; (2) determining a multiple of the median for the BE value at the first period in time, wherein a risk of neurological injury to the fetus is indicated when the BE value is a predefined multiple of a median BE value; and (3) treating the fetus for which the risk of neurological injury is, by intervening in labor to reduce or eliminate the risk of neurological injury to the fetus through any conventional therapeutic measures.

A method for assessment and/or monitoring a person's cardiovascular state comprises: using a sound and vibration transducer to acquire a vascular sound signal in order to detect a vascular sound from a cervical, thoracic, abdominal, pelvic, or lower limb region of the person; filtering the vascular sound signal to isolate the vascular sound, said filtering using a filter which attenuates frequencies below a lower cut-off frequency in a range of 100-300 Hz; and analyzing the filtered sound signal in order to determine whether an indication of a dicrotic notch in the vascular sound exceeds a set threshold.

The invention relates to determining a fetal heart rate from an ultrasonic Doppler echo signal, which comprises at least two channels, including a first channel obtained for a first depth range and a second channel obtained for a second depth range. A first heart rate is determined from the first channel (51, 53, 55) and a second heart rate is determined from the second channel (52, 54, 56). External information on the fetal heart rate and/or the maternal heart rate, extracted from an independent source (60, 61, 62) such as an ECG, is used to select one of the first heart rate and the second heart rate as the fetal heart rate to be determined. A preferred embodiment provides for elimination of double counting heart rates by cutting out unwanted signal contributions. The disclosure further provides for an adaptive signal processing and data acquisition controlled by patient related data.

A system and method is provided for monitoring the fetal position and/or orientation of the fetus of an expectant mother. An acoustic sensor array is positioned over the belly. The pattern of acoustic sensor signals is processed to determine a fetal orientation and/or to determine movement over time of the fetus.

A method for detecting fetal blood oxygen saturation, including: using at least two detection light of different wavelengths, to irradiate a fetus in an examined pregnant woman's abdomen in a time-sharing manner and acquiring first photoplethysmography signals corresponding to the abdomen under irradiation of the respective wavelengths of detection light, and to irradiate a detection site except the examined pregnant woman's abdomen in a time-sharing manner and acquiring second photoplethysmography signals corresponding to the detection site under irradiation of the respective wavelengths of the detection light; determining a target photoplethysmography signal of the fetus that corresponds to the detection light of each wavelength, according to the first photoplethysmography signals and the second photoplethysmography signals that correspond to the detection light of each wavelength; and determining the fetal blood oxygen saturation, according to respective target photoplethysmography signals determined.

Light reflected from a pregnant woman's abdomen and fetus contained therein that has been received by a detector and converted into a reflected electronic signal may be received by a processor. A portion of the reflected electronic signal that is reflected from the fetus may be isolated and the isolated portion of the reflected electronic signal may be analyzed to determine a fetal hemoglobin oxygen saturation level of the fetus. The isolation may be achieved by synchronizing the reflected electronic signal with a fetal heartbeat signal and multiplying the synchronized reflected electronic signal by the synchronized fetal heartbeat signal.

A sensing device for sensing perinatal maternal uterine activity and fetal heart activity is provided. The sensing device includes a body with an electromechanical system and a housing, a passive acoustic system with a plurality of microphones and an acoustic waveguide, an attachment component, an accelerometer, a signal analysis system including a microcontroller unit, and a wireless transceiver. The signal analysis system is configured to process biopotential signals and acoustic signals detected by the passive acoustic system and to reduce motion artifacts from the signals using the accelerometer.