Inside information
a pill-sized transmitter, quite similar to the one swallowed by us astronaut-turned-senator-turned-astronaut John Glenn to measure his body temperature on his recent space shuttle mission, could soon help surgeons monitor the progress of foetuses following surgery in the womb.
The silicon-coated transmitter, which is 35 millimetres (mm) long and 9mm wide, will be implanted in pregnant women during endoscopic surgery, tracking temperature and pressure in the uterus. It will warn if premature labour has begun, which is common after foetal surgery, by detecting contractions. "This will allow us to detect pre-term labour before it goes out of control,' says Michael Harrison, a professor at the University of California at San Francisco, usa , where he is the director of the Foetal Treatment Center.
Harrison has been developing the transmitter with engineers at the us National Aeronautics and Space Administration's ( nasa 's) Ames Research Center in Moffet Field, California. Previous versions were disc-shaped, and were implanted following surgery to correct congenital defects in the foetus. However, surgery is now performed with endoscopes, tubes inserted through small incisions. The old transmitters were just too large to pass through these tubes. Mike Skidmore, an engineer on the project, says the new transmitter is small because it uses smaller, more advanced microcircuitry than its predecessor.
Once inserted, the transmitter will send information over 200 megahertz radio waves to a monitor outside the mother's body. Standard watch batteries will allow it to transmit for months at an end. After surgery the mother will be able to go home wearing the monitor on a belt. If premature labour begins, the monitor will warn the mother, giving doctors enough time to intervene and save her child. The team plans to test the transmitter on laboratory animals before the human trials begin this year.
Related Content
- Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding diversion of 44 hectares of protected forest land for a Commando Battalion headquarters in Barak Valley, Assam, 15/03/2024
- Report by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) on management of waste in Sabji mandi, Ludhiana, Punjab, 15/03/2024
- Order of the Madras High Court regarding plea for regulating pilgrim footfall during temple festival of Adhi Karuvannarayar temple located in the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, Erode district, Tamil Nadu, 02/01/2024
- Report by Karnataka State Pollution Control Board regarding waste management in Gokarna, Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka, 07/07/2023
- Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of environment management plan for government hospitals in India, 03/07/2023
- Joint committee report on measures to curb air pollution, traffic congestion and encroachments in and around AIIMS, Delhi, 01/07/2023