FOR SAFE: instrumented and secured obstetrical forceps.
Operative vaginal deliveries represent a significant amount of vaginal deliveries. Operative delivery involves either forceps either vacuum extraction. Complications are frequent but rarely severe (cutaneaous lesions, facial palsy...). However, it is essential to limit these complications by helping the obstetrician to position his extraction instrument. It is the aim of the FOR SAFE device: provide a new instrumented forceps which performs the interface pressure measurement between the fetal head and the shanks of the forceps. Interface pressure evaluation requires interaction between the living tissue and the sensor, just like a man needs to touch an object with its fingertip to evaluate its compliance. The design of the sensor is "bio inspired". The sensor interacts with the matter, without modifying phenomenon to be measured.
Gehin
C
C
Biomedical Microsensors Departement of the LPM of the INSA (National Institute of Applied Science) of Lyon, 20 avenue Albert Einstein, Villeurbanne, 69 621 France (phone:33 4 72 43 89 88; fax: 33 4 72 42 89 87; e-mail: claudine.gehin@insa-lyon.fr).
Schmitt
P
P
Ramon
C
C
Delhomme
G
G
Dittmar
A
A