Childbirth monitoring technology has barely changed since the 1960s

A wonderful feature from one of VitalTrace's clinical and commercial advisors, Vinayak Smith, on the role of innovative technologies to reduce the risk of litigation in obstetrics!

“Cardiotocography (CTG) has been used for foetal heartrate (FHR) surveillance since the 1970s, as a means of detecting foetal hypoxia and guiding clinical decisions around delivery timing.

Despite the length of its usage, there is yet to be convincing evidence that CTG reduces birth asphyxia, stillbirths, caesareans or instrumental deliveries.

Although the technology is good at providing reassurance when foetal heartrates are ‘normal’, it is less useful at working out the prognosis of ‘abnormal’ heartrates, explains Dr. Vinayak Smith, of Monash University and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

“It is not easy for two clinicians to agree or interpret the same CTG output the same way,” said Dr. Smith ahead of the Obstetric Malpractice Conference.

“Heartrates which look normal are easy to trust, whereas abnormal ones could mean anything. The CTG doesn’t tell us how worried we should be when a heartrate doesn’t look quite right.

“As a result, FHR red flags can be wrongfully dismissed by the clinician, leading to ‘preventable’ delivery complications or, in extreme cases, foetal deaths.

“Conversely, false alarms can lead to unnecessary clinical intervention and greater numbers of (precautionary) C-sections – a procedure which is risky for both mother and baby.”

Aside from the risk of healthcare complications, CTG reliability issues expose clinicians to legal culpability.

With 20 percent of obstetrics claims involving CTG – and obstetrics accounting for a significant proportion of medico legal disputes – it is widely agreed that better foetal monitoring solutions are needed.”

See the full article here.

From Prof. Jonathan Morris, VitalTrace - Chief Medical Officer

I had the wonderful opportunity to present VitalTrace’s pre-clinical data in the highly regarded Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine 2025 Pregnancy Meeting in Denver, Colorado. This is the premier pregnancy meeting in USA. Our abstract was one of the 104 selected for presentation out of more than 2,000 submitted speaking to the significance and magnitude of the accomplishments we have achieved.

SMFM was a great opportunity to connect with obstetricians allowing VitalTrace to build invaluable relationships with leading practitioners and forming alliances to prepare the company for future activity in the United States and beyond. There was very strong interest in DelivAssure from leaders in Boston, Washington, Texas, East Virginia, New York and Philadelphia amongst others.

Some particularly notable feedback:

From Dr Emily Reiff (Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School),

“I was fascinated by your study of real-time fetal lactate monitoring and think that innovation like this is what is needed for effective intrapartum management.”
‍

From Dr Justin Lappen (Cleveland Clinic),

“The whole team thought that DelivAssure would assist with Class II CTG dilemmas.”

‍

It was reinvigorating to see such strong support for continuous lactate monitoring and reinforces our confidence to launch DelivAssure in the United States.

VitalTrace is proud to announce it has received support from the McGowan government, Roger Cook and Medical Technology and Pharmaceutical (MTP) Connect under the WA Life Sciences Innovation Hub Manufacturing Voucher Program.

MTPConnect Managing Director and CEO, Dr Dan Grant, said, “Manufacturing medical products is a national priority so we’re supporting these promising projects to develop their medical devices and diagnostics.”

The MTP initiative, driven by Tracey Wilkinson and Kevin Pfleger, aims to accelerate the development and manufacturing of medical technology and pharmaceutical products in WA, such as medical devices, diagnostics, biologics and pharmaceuticals. The program is currently co-funded through the McGowan Government's New Industries Fund, industry growth centre MTPConnect and The University of Western Australia.

VitalTrace is honoured to be one of five WA-based companies under the scheme to been awarded a total of $450,000 to accelerate innovation projects requiring advanced manufacturing capabilities.

VitalTrace’s Chief Executive Officer said, “We are so fortunate to be supported by the McGowan Government through MTPConnect. This will not only bolster our path to market, but also bring new opportunities for Western Australia.”

This wonderful news adds to recent announcement of a new fund of approximately $40 million of ongoing support made towards health and medical research, innovation and commercialisation in Western Australia by Roger Cook.

More information