Objective
Forceps are used to assist the birth of about 10% of normal deliveries throughout Europe causing pain and suffering to both mother and baby. Vacuum extractor cups have been tried which attach by suction to the baby' s head but, whilst these are better than forceps, they are only partially successful. They pull up the skin and blood vessels on the baby's head which can result in later complications. This project proposes to develop a new vacuum obstetric device which will give the delivery assistant full movement control whilst at the same time preventing damage to the baby's scalp. By combining the technical skills of Rapra Technology Ltd and The North Staffordshire Hospital, leaders respectively in elastomers and child birth, full analysis of the required control loads and movements will be made. Using advanced modelling techniques and careful materials selection and development, prototype devices will be made for trial applications at the Hospital. Starting from the technologically advanced prototype, by iteration between the two RTD Performers, a final prototype will be created which will form the basis for the commercial unit to be finally developed by the partners. The size of the European market for these devices is expected to be worth up to 1 Om ECU within 2 to 3 years from its public launch and the partners are very well placed to exploit the situation fully. World wide uptake is confidently expected and this could more than double the demand. The device will reduce pain and suffering for lOO,OOO's mothers and babies annually. A combination of theoretical and experimental work coupled with good management and regular meetings between the Partners and the RTD Performers will ensure the successful execution of the project.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
You need to log in or register to use this function
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CRS - Cooperative research contractsCoordinator
TF1 4FR Telford
United Kingdom