A Proof-of-concept Portable, Non-invasive, and Wireless device for the Preliminary Diagnosis of Preeclampsia

Abstract

The Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy (HDPs) are one of the main factors affecting maternal mortality globally and early diagnosis can lead to a significant reduction in maternal and fetal mortality. Preeclampsia typically occurs in the third trimester and early diagnosis is essential for maternal and fetal health. The current practice is to use blood pressure measurements to identify pregnant women with the risk of hypertensive disorders and use blood and urine analysis to further identify the possibility of preeclampsia. However, the shortage of adequate laboratory facilities in rural India is a major bottleneck in the diagnosis and management of pre-eclamptic women. The proposed solution addresses this problem by developing a device that measures all relevant biophysical and biochemical parameters relevant for preliminary screening of women with preeclampsia and which can be operated by semiskilled health workers. In the initial prototype model developed in the Arduino UNO platform, we propose a portable, and wireless device for the early diagnosis of HDPs by monitoring the blood pressure levels using the oscillometric method, measuring the creatinine and uric acid levels using a strip-based electrochemical sensor, measuring the albumin content using a fluorescence-based biosensor. A completely novel method for early detection of preeclampsia by measuring the sFLT-1/PIGF ratio also proposed. In this work, we are coming up with a proof-of-concept model as a single device to integrate the three different sensing techniques in which the electrochemical sensing and fluorescence sensing techniques of biomarkers are experimentally proved using blood glucose level measurement followed by appropriate calibration.