Philips Health's fetal monitoring system, the Avalon CL, is now moving fast toward market after getting federal agency approval Jan. 7.
The Food and Drug Administration' (FDA) Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act mandates registration of new products at least 90 days before the goods are ready to go to market, so, in theory, the Avalon CL could be available within three months to pregnant women who have gone into their last trimester.
The Avalon CL emerges as Philips Health's latest offering in a portfolio of products promising to boost mobility in monitoring and connected care. All measurements can be recorded via the Avalon CL without cables, Werner Haas, general manager of Philips Monitoring, told Tech Times.
"Based on customer feedback, the biggest advantage for women in labor is to be free and to feel free," Haas says. "For the physicians and nurses, the new technology offers more choices to support women in labor."
Like the CTS, its predecessor, the Avalon CL transmits vital signs from mother and child to a base station. The base station then relays the measurement to Philips' IntelliSpace Perinatal information management system.
The Avalon CL builds on CTS features and has the ability to track many of the metrics quantifiable via wired monitoring systems.
The CTS measures fetal heart rate and contractions as well as does electrocardiograms of both mother and child. It also can measure blood pressure (noninvasive), and a second and third fetal heart rate, peripheral capillary oxygen saturation, maternal pulse and fetal intra-uterine pressure.
Along with building on the feature set of the CTS, the Avalon CL also takes a step forward in accuracy. The CL uses Philips' Smart Pulse technology to accurately discern fetal and maternal heart rates, which is of significant concern to physicians during the second stage of labor, according to Philips.
"In the past, for lots of situations, cables were still needed," Haas told Tech Times. "[This was especially true] for twins and triplets, where the number of transducers increase, there was no way to give freedom to the mother."
