Active clinical trials for "Fetal Hypoxia"

More than 80% of the 3 million women who labor and deliver each year in the United States undergo continuous electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) during labor in order to fetal hypoxia and prevent the transition to acidemia, expedited operative delivery, and/or neonatal morbidity. Category II EFM is the most commonly observed group of fetal heart rate features in labor. One common response to Category II EFM is maternal oxygen (O2) supplementation. The theoretic rationale for O2 administration is that it increases O2 transfer to a hypoxic fetus. There are conflicting national guidelines regarding O2 administration - the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists suggest O2 is ineffective, whereas the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses recommend continued use given lack of definitive data on safety and efficacy. A recent national survey of nearly 600 Labor & Delivery providers in February 2022 revealed that 49% still use O2 . Thus, there remains equipoise on the topic and high-quality data on the safety of intrapartum O2 is needed. None of the trials to date have studied the effect of intrapartum O2 on important clinical measures of neonatal or maternal morbidity. This safety data is imperative because the field of obstetrics must hold supplemental O2 to the same rigorous standards applied to any drug used in pregnancy. Without data on these definitive outcomes, it will be challenging to implement evidence-based recommendations for supplemental O2 use on Labor & Delivery. The investigators will conduct a large, multicenter, randomized noninferiority trial of O2 supplementation versus room air in patients with Category II EFM in labor.

The overall purpose of this study is to evaluate maternal-fetal tissue light scattering properties. The objectives of the study are: (i) integrate established mathematical principles of oxygen saturation to model with increasing accuracy the "body in a body" problem of fetus in mother; similar to existing pulse oximeters, the calculations will be integrated into software in the final commercial product; (ii) obtain human measurements against which both computational models and animal data can be compared.

Perinatal asphyxia is a crucial reason for neonatal and childhood morbidity and death. Fetal and neonatal acidemia can be utilised as predictors for establishing such risk. Several researches have reported a marked relation between low values of fetal pH with short- and long-term adverse neonatal outcomes. Umbilical cord blood gas studies (UCGS) are considered critical data that gives an objective and certified evaluation of the oxygenation and metabolic status of the fetus. Before birth, the physician can evaluate fetal wellness through cardiotocography and prenatal ultrasound. Other studies had examined the role of fetal Doppler indices before birth and proposed that fetuses with lower impedance in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) or low cerebroplacental ratio (CPR) are at increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcome. However, no research has ever evaluated the possibility of a correlation between ultrasonographic fetal evaluation and fetal umbilical cord pH as a predictor of pre-delivery fetal pH. The goal of our study was to discovered a potential association between the venous umbilical ph cord blood at delivery and the ultrasonographic feto-maternal doppler indices in patients with a scheduled nonlaboring term singleton caesarean deliveries (SCD), this research is a novel finding.

Nulliparous women with a live singleton pregnancy in cephalic presentation past 34 gestational weeks will be randomized to lateral episiotomy or no episiotomy when operative vaginal delivery by vacuum extraction is indicated. Primary outcome is clinically diagnosed obstetric anal sphincter injury (OASIS) of any degree.

Fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring during labor aims to detect fetuses at risk of intrapartum hypoxia in order to accelerate their birth before the constitution of sequelae such as anoxic encephalopathy and cerebral palsy. But the positive predictive value of FHR monitoring is low, and many second-line tests have been proposed but none of them has been proven to be conclusive. Measure of placental elasticity and viscosity during labor could be a new second line test to complete the FHR monitoring. Several studies have shown that placental elasticity is increased in case of gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, or intrauterine growth restriction, but no study has focused on placental elasticity during labor. The investigators hypothesize that placental elasticity and viscosity could reflect the quality of maternal-fetal exchanges during labor, and could help to detect fetus at risk of intrapartum hypoxia. The first aim of this study is to describe the values of placental elasticity and viscosity during different points in the labor: beginning of the labor, beginning of the active phase of the first stage of labor, and passive phase of the second stage of labor. Secondary aims of this study are: to describe the values of placental elasticity and viscosity in case of oxytocin infusion, in case of abnormal FHR, and ex-vivo after placental expulsion. This unicentric observational prospective study will include 150 patients with singleton pregnancy, without pathology, with spontaneous labor at term.

The Raydiant Oximetry Sensing System (Lumerah) is a non-invasive fetal pulse oximeter that measures fetal arterial oxygen saturation using safe, non-invasive, transabdominal near-infrared spectroscopy. Lumerah is intended as an adjunct to cardiotocography by detecting decreases in fetal oxygenation.

Fetal cardiac monitoring is used during labor. Fetal decelerations may imply fetal hypoxia and distress. Brain activity monitoring is not used to evaluate fetal distress during labor. In this study the investigators intend to use an EEG based algorithm to evaluate and monitor fetal brain activity during the 2nd stage of labor.

Stillbirth (SB) is a devastating complication of pregnancy and contributes to over 2 million deaths globally every year. Over 20 million infants are born every year with low birth weight (LBW), which is associated with a twenty times increased risk of death in the first year of life and high rates of short- and long-term illnesses. Sleeping on one's back during pregnancy has recently emerged as a potential risk factor for LBW and SB in the medical literature. In high-income countries, SB rates have mostly remained the same in the past two decades and targeting modifiable risk factors could help reduce the number of SB and LBW in the population. When a pregnant woman sleeps on her back, her body position compresses underlying blood vessels and reduces blood flow to the developing baby. This body position could cause unpleasant symptoms for the mother and result in LBW or SB of her baby. Lying on her side or with a slight lateral tilt helps relieve this compression. One way to keep people off their back while sleeping is by using positional therapy (PT). It is a simple, safe, inexpensive and effective intervention for preventing people who snore or people who's breathing pauses during sleep from sleeping on their back. Reducing the amount of time pregnant women sleep on their back could help reduce SB and LBW rates. The investigators developed a PT device (PrenaBelt) and tested it in three clinical trials, which demonstrated that it significantly decreases the number of time women spend sleeping on their back. Using feedback from our previous research, the investigators developed five additional devices that will be tested in this study. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the new PrenaBelt (PB2) prototypes' ability to reduce the amount of time pregnant women sleep on their backs in the third trimester of pregnancy, validate the Ajuvia Sleep Monitor, and collect feedback on the devices. Demonstrating that the sleeping position of pregnant women can be modified through the use of a simple, inexpensive PT intervention may be one of the keys to achieving significant reductions in LBW and late SB rates in Australia and worldwide.

Every day in Ghana, 47 babies are stillborn (SB) and 232 babies are born with low birth-weight (LBW) - many of whom will die in infancy or suffer lifelong consequences. Sleeping on the back during pregnancy has recently emerged in scientific literature as a potential risk factor for SB and LBW. In fact, one of the earliest studies to demonstrate this link was conducted in Ghana by investigators on this protocol. When a woman in mid-to-late-pregnancy lies on her back, her large uterus compresses one of the major veins that delivers blood back to her heart and may completely obstruct it. This may result in less blood being returned to her heart and less blood being pumped to her developing fetus. Such changes may negatively impact the growth of her fetus and, along with some other risk factors, may contribute to the death of her baby. The investigators have developed a device, 'PrenaBelt', to significantly reduce the amount of time a pregnant woman spends sleeping on her back. The PrenaBelt functions via a simple, safe, effective, and well-established modality called positional therapy. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of the PrenaBelt on birth-weight and assess the feasibility of introducing it to Ghanaian third-trimester pregnant women in their home setting via an antenatal care clinic and local health-care staff. Data from this study will be used in effect size calculations for the design of a large-scale, epidemiological study targeted at reducing LBW and SB in Ghana and globally.

Maternal oxygen administration for concerning fetal heart rate tracing (FHT) patterns is common practice on Labor and Delivery units in the United States. Despite the broad use of oxygen, it is unclear if this practice is beneficial for the fetus. The purpose of this study is to compare oxygen to room air in patients with Category II fetal heart tracings with regard to neonatal acid-base status, subsequent tracings, and production of reactive oxygen species