Fetal monitoring using a wearable ultrasound patch for high-risk pregnancies

Fetal monitoring using a wearable ultrasound patch for high-risk pregnancies | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Fetal monitoring using a wearable ultrasound patch for high-risk pregnancies Sheng Xu, Geonho Park, Yizhou Bian, Huang Huang, Sai Zhou, Siyu Qin, and 25 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7715480/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The rapid and complex nature of fetal development requires meticulous prenatal monitoring to ensure optimal pregnancy outcomes. Cardiotocography, which continuously records the fetal heart rate and uterine contractions, often leads to inaccurate diagnoses and unnecessary interventions. Ultrasonography is a cornerstone of fetal monitoring and diagnosis, but it is highly dependent on specialized sonographers, limiting its availability. Additionally, current ultrasound methods provide only snapshot evaluations. Even in very high-risk pregnancies, it is rare to have fetal ultrasound assessments more than once per day. Here we report a wearable ultrasound patch (UPatch) for continuous and autonomous fetal monitoring. The UPatch can acquire anatomical structures and blood flow velocities, with signal qualities comparable to those of handheld clinical ultrasound devices. Real-time image segmentation allows the autonomous tracking of target vessels and thus the acquisition of continuous blood flow spectra during fetal and maternal movements without a sonographer. We validated the UPatch accuracy on 62 pregnancies, and the continuous monitoring data on 52 pregnant women aligned with stratified perinatal conditions, including healthy, small for gestational age, large for gestational age, gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, and gestational hypertension. The UPatch introduces new capabilities for prenatal care and offers critical evidence for studying fetal complications in high-risk pregnancies. Physical sciences/Engineering/Biomedical engineering Biological sciences/Physiology/Reproductive biology/Reproductive disorders Health sciences/Health care/Prognosis/Pregnancy outcome Full Text Additional Declarations Yes there is potential Competing Interest. S.X. is a cofounder of Softsonics LLC. A.T.P. is a Senior Scientific Advisor of Intelligent Ultrasound Ltd. All other authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files ParkSupplementaryInformation.pdf Supplementary Information ParkSupplementaryVideo1.mp4 Supplementary Video Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7715480","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":521991859,"identity":"2e5ca9d5-0ad3-47fc-b5e2-8cc8baf6e023","order_by":0,"name":"Sheng Xu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAvElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCQglB2UzE6/FmHQtiQ1Ea5Gf3Xzs4de2w+kbjh9/eIOhwhqsFy8wuHMs3VjmzOHcDWdyjC0YzqQToUUix0xaogKo5QYPmwRj22HCWuRn5H+TljA4nG5wg/2ZBOM/IrQw3Mhhk/xQcTjB4AaDmQRjAxFaDG6kmUkDvWA4E+SXBKDHiHBY8jPJn23W8nygEPtQYy1L2GFAwMwDYyUQoxwEGH8Qq3IUjIJRMApGJgAAjJM+wXliMfcAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3120-4992","institution":"University of California, San Diego","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sheng","middleName":"","lastName":"Xu","suffix":""},{"id":521991860,"identity":"51da9ec1-cdde-4c11-9647-5eebd8c2dd9e","order_by":1,"name":"Geonho Park","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1976-4460","institution":"University of California San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Geonho","middleName":"","lastName":"Park","suffix":""},{"id":521991861,"identity":"04d4a4d0-03f1-4627-9845-6cc9274b983b","order_by":2,"name":"Yizhou Bian","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3311-7325","institution":"University of California San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yizhou","middleName":"","lastName":"Bian","suffix":""},{"id":521991862,"identity":"feaabc15-978c-4aba-b0f6-b131c20eb257","order_by":3,"name":"Huang Huang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of California, San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Huang","middleName":"","lastName":"Huang","suffix":""},{"id":521991863,"identity":"de92526e-4fc0-45ee-9f6d-08b249c0cb24","order_by":4,"name":"Sai Zhou","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9878-877X","institution":"University of California, San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sai","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhou","suffix":""},{"id":521991864,"identity":"d3ca926f-164a-4fe4-9ca4-f4fab9d2de17","order_by":5,"name":"Siyu Qin","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of California San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Siyu","middleName":"","lastName":"Qin","suffix":""},{"id":521991865,"identity":"76dbfecc-640b-4b2d-9d12-977645ec6269","order_by":6,"name":"Muyang Lin","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6627-6294","institution":"University of California, San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Muyang","middleName":"","lastName":"Lin","suffix":""},{"id":521991866,"identity":"d75afc92-c3c2-4d9d-b6a5-97587cdd949a","order_by":7,"name":"Xinyi Yang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of California, San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xinyi","middleName":"","lastName":"Yang","suffix":""},{"id":521991867,"identity":"644f7bff-e5ff-4117-a938-e078ecce10b0","order_by":8,"name":"Aaron Lee","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of California San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Aaron","middleName":"","lastName":"Lee","suffix":""},{"id":521991868,"identity":"a3649819-948a-45a8-a044-5c08207dd472","order_by":9,"name":"Anand Ramkumar","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Oxford","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anand","middleName":"","lastName":"Ramkumar","suffix":""},{"id":521991869,"identity":"98966b11-f71d-4d1d-b5f7-ec5b14499f54","order_by":10,"name":"Mariana Tome","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Oxford","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mariana","middleName":"","lastName":"Tome","suffix":""},{"id":521991870,"identity":"20000efc-b91b-4bc8-9bac-c70d22ee1619","order_by":11,"name":"Jayne Lander","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Oxford","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jayne","middleName":"","lastName":"Lander","suffix":""},{"id":521991871,"identity":"8fd60d99-c4ab-4b61-aeca-a8ac608e8e74","order_by":12,"name":"Xiangjun Chen","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0008-8760-956X","institution":"University of California, San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiangjun","middleName":"","lastName":"Chen","suffix":""},{"id":521991872,"identity":"0c90958b-c204-49fb-995a-57186608720e","order_by":13,"name":"Shenghan Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of California San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shenghan","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":521991873,"identity":"aaacbd36-15d9-458f-a324-53f35991ebba","order_by":14,"name":"Pranavi Bheemreddy","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of California San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Pranavi","middleName":"","lastName":"Bheemreddy","suffix":""},{"id":521991874,"identity":"b157e947-95e9-4eab-9116-13b77b0a9aa1","order_by":15,"name":"Liam Stanton","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of California San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Liam","middleName":"","lastName":"Stanton","suffix":""},{"id":521991875,"identity":"60a5680b-21e4-4479-9ab1-9f6fb85da761","order_by":16,"name":"Mabel Shehada","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of California San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mabel","middleName":"","lastName":"Shehada","suffix":""},{"id":521991876,"identity":"89660be3-9dc0-4a20-9a41-a59986e5aaf1","order_by":17,"name":"Ruotao Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Aiiso Yufeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering, University of California San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ruotao","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":521991877,"identity":"f9706af3-3197-4762-9b2b-30daa05ead95","order_by":18,"name":"Alexa Roa","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of California San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Alexa","middleName":"","lastName":"Roa","suffix":""},{"id":521991878,"identity":"78b382bd-0171-4d76-ac86-e4f3d797c7c2","order_by":19,"name":"Chengchangfeng Lu","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3807-9917","institution":"University of California, San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Chengchangfeng","middleName":"","lastName":"Lu","suffix":""},{"id":521991879,"identity":"cdcfe575-4c96-4db3-9f3c-5944cd8b02e4","order_by":20,"name":"Wentong Yue","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of California, San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wentong","middleName":"","lastName":"Yue","suffix":""},{"id":521991880,"identity":"6f0ad5da-2795-4fab-ba7a-bd525e6dc490","order_by":21,"name":"Ray Wu","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0561-0508","institution":"University of California, San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ray","middleName":"","lastName":"Wu","suffix":""},{"id":521991881,"identity":"b9b1d966-38c1-4f98-bad6-dc41abf39af2","order_by":22,"name":"Xiaoxiang Gao","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0590-2140","institution":"University of California, San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiaoxiang","middleName":"","lastName":"Gao","suffix":""},{"id":521991882,"identity":"05f23e72-a13e-479b-9894-563063f805af","order_by":23,"name":"Hongjie Hu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of California San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hongjie","middleName":"","lastName":"Hu","suffix":""},{"id":521991883,"identity":"e7ad5c60-4844-488d-bc2a-762e8c85add5","order_by":24,"name":"Amer Yaghi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of California San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Amer","middleName":"","lastName":"Yaghi","suffix":""},{"id":521991884,"identity":"0759046a-9855-4532-b0a1-eed04ba0ef4e","order_by":25,"name":"Mark Liu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of California San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mark","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""},{"id":521991885,"identity":"788f1214-d424-4706-b70a-bcfd05d132ae","order_by":26,"name":"Lawrence Impey","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Oxford","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lawrence","middleName":"","lastName":"Impey","suffix":""},{"id":521991886,"identity":"8c7bb989-5b97-45c2-aa33-8342aaaf74f6","order_by":27,"name":"Sally Collins","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Oxford","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sally","middleName":"","lastName":"Collins","suffix":""},{"id":521991887,"identity":"b266f89c-aef6-45c5-b9ee-21010bce655d","order_by":28,"name":"Aris Papageorghiou","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Oxford","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Aris","middleName":"","lastName":"Papageorghiou","suffix":""},{"id":521991888,"identity":"15399649-7ea4-4218-940b-47b922ac98a7","order_by":29,"name":"Louise Laurent","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of California San Diego","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Louise","middleName":"","lastName":"Laurent","suffix":""},{"id":521991889,"identity":"a1413aa4-fec7-4a72-9edc-30a2eedd20fd","order_by":30,"name":"Antoniya Georgieva","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Oxford","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Antoniya","middleName":"","lastName":"Georgieva","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-09-25 18:10:51","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7715480/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7715480/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":93105502,"identity":"b7bcab54-53bf-4496-b939-3ef5395fbc5a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-09 06:36:20","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1220460,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"ParkMainText.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7715480/v1_covered_b9db1ac8-1a19-4850-ba4a-28c7e2cea676.pdf"},{"id":93105277,"identity":"6372fe14-6a22-42c4-9fd9-8ab43cc4aca1","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-09 06:28:19","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":12835076,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Information","description":"","filename":"ParkSupplementaryInformation.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7715480/v1/033de0afd0c40f98df9eb7a0.pdf"},{"id":93105279,"identity":"cce0cc78-1f05-423a-a38a-221be0771e1b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-09 06:28:20","extension":"mp4","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":45852094,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Video","description":"","filename":"ParkSupplementaryVideo1.mp4","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7715480/v1/01c6a3bf8a535edb1a027e64.mp4"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cb\u003eYes\u003c/b\u003e there is potential Competing Interest.\nS.X. is a cofounder of Softsonics LLC. A.T.P. is a Senior Scientific Advisor of Intelligent Ultrasound Ltd. All other authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"Fetal monitoring using a wearable ultrasound patch for high-risk pregnancies","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7715480/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7715480/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"The rapid and complex nature of fetal development requires meticulous prenatal monitoring to ensure optimal pregnancy outcomes. Cardiotocography, which continuously records the fetal heart rate and uterine contractions, often leads to inaccurate diagnoses and unnecessary interventions. Ultrasonography is a cornerstone of fetal monitoring and diagnosis, but it is highly dependent on specialized sonographers, limiting its availability. Additionally, current ultrasound methods provide only snapshot evaluations. Even in very high-risk pregnancies, it is rare to have fetal ultrasound assessments more than once per day. Here we report a wearable ultrasound patch (UPatch) for continuous and autonomous fetal monitoring. The UPatch can acquire anatomical structures and blood flow velocities, with signal qualities comparable to those of handheld clinical ultrasound devices. Real-time image segmentation allows the autonomous tracking of target vessels and thus the acquisition of continuous blood flow spectra during fetal and maternal movements without a sonographer. We validated the UPatch accuracy on 62 pregnancies, and the continuous monitoring data on 52 pregnant women aligned with stratified perinatal conditions, including healthy, small for gestational age, large for gestational age, gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, and gestational hypertension. The UPatch introduces new capabilities for prenatal care and offers critical evidence for studying fetal complications in high-risk pregnancies.","manuscriptTitle":"Fetal monitoring using a wearable ultrasound patch for high-risk pregnancies","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-09 06:28:13","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7715480/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-biotechnology","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"nbt","sideBox":"Learn more about [Nature Biotechnology](http://www.nature.com/nbt/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Biotechnology","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature Research","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"b603a9e4-26ca-4bcf-8374-ec480f6e963a","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 9th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":55476184,"name":"Physical sciences/Engineering/Biomedical engineering"},{"id":55476185,"name":"Biological sciences/Physiology/Reproductive biology/Reproductive disorders"},{"id":55476186,"name":"Health sciences/Health care/Prognosis/Pregnancy outcome"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-21T19:55:14+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-09 06:28:13","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7715480","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7715480","identity":"rs-7715480","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}