By better interpreting and utilizing health data from pregnant women and their unborn children, preterm births can be predicted earlier, and heart defects can be detected more quickly. Ivar de Vries, from the Department of Electrical Engineering, investigated during his PhD research how available monitoring data from mother and child can be used more effectively. He defends his PhD thesis on May 13.
In the Netherlands, two to three viable babies die every day due to complications before, during, and after birth. Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and Måxima Medical Center (MMC) are collaborating on research to detect these complications earlier by monitoring pregnant women and their unborn children.
Judith van Laar, gynecologist at MMC and Professor in Signal Processing Systems at TU/e, explains that âdespite technological advances, it is still difficult to detect certain complications at an early stage.â
Indicator
For his PhD research, Ivar de Vries focused on this early detection. He used a monitoring system to measure the heart rate of both the mother and child in a patient-friendly way using electrophysiological signals. It also visualizes uterine muscle activity, an important indicator of preterm birth.
The system used by De Vries was developed by Van Laar together with Rik Vullings, associate professor in the same TU/e research group. Both supervised De Vries during his PhD.
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