UPatch: Could a wearable ultrasound device transform pregnancy monitoring?

By Theo Farrant Published on 28/05/2026 - 7:00 GMT+2 Share Comments Share Facebook Twitter Flipboard Send Reddit Linkedin Messenger Telegram VK Bluesky Threads Whatsapp

The device aims to reduce false alarms, cut unnecessary hospital visits, and expand access to prenatal care in low-resource settings.

Scientists have developed a stick-on ultrasound device that can continuously track a baby's health in the womb - potentially catching complications that current available technology misses.

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The patch, a proof-of-concept device called UPatch, can be worn for hours at a time, imaging the fetus and monitoring blood flow in real time, including in moving structures like the umbilical cord.

It was developed by a team led by Professor Sheng Xu at Stanford University, as well researchers from Oxford University and UC San Diego - and findings have been published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Why current monitoring methods fall short

Current baby monitoring methods have significant limitations.

They can give doctors either brief snapshots - a handful of scans across an entire pregnancy - or continuous data that's so riddled with false alarm it's hard to trust.

UPatch aims to sit in the middle, tracking blood flow and fetal health over hours at a time, automatically, without needing a specialist in the room.

In trials involving 62 pregnant participants, the device’s readings closely matched those from standard handheld ultrasound, suggesting it can reliably track blood flow over time.

What researchers discovered about fetal blood flow

The device also revealed something clinically important: fetal blood flow can fluctuate dynamically over time, with temporary changes that may not signal a persistent problem.

In one severe pre-eclampsia case, the patch detected worrying changes in blood flow, leading doctors to increase monitoring and perform a caesarean delivery four days later.

Professor Antoniya Georgieva, who was involved in the research, said: "This technology opens the possibility of monitoring fetal wellbeing continuously and non-invasively over much longer periods than is currently possible."

Researcher Mariana Tome went further, arguing the device could reshape the experience of pregnancy itself, "by helping women feel safer, more reassured and better supported throughout pregnancy, while also reducing unnecessary hospital visits, repeated scans and avoidable interventions".

Others see broader benefits of the UPatch. First author Dr Tom Park pointed to the potential value in places where specialist sonographers and advanced diagnostic tools are hard to come by: "This technology could expand access to prenatal imaging in healthcare deserts and low-resource settings, where shortages of trained sonographers often delay care for high-risk pregnancies."

For now, UPatch remains a proof-of-concept. It currently relies on a wired backend setup, and requires a conventional ultrasound scan to position it correctly. Further clinical trials on larger cohorts and diverse populations are also needed.

But researchers say future versions could be fully wireless and far more compact. If that happens, continuous fetal monitoring may move from hospital snapshots to something closer to everyday wear.

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