Intra-Uterine SENSing using a batteryless, wireless intrauterine platform (U-SENSE)

One in six couples have problems becoming pregnant. In a quarter of couples, no abnormality is found even after investigations. In many cases the womb is likely to be the key cause, but at present no reliable tests are available to assess this. In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is the key technique for treating subfertility (in ability to conceive naturally) costing over £300 million year on year and increasing (UK). However, IVF has only a 30% success rate per treatment cycle. From IVF, and experimental studies in humans, doctors have learnt that there are three key parameters which are known to determine whether the embryo can develop are oxygen, temperature and pH1,2,4,5,7,8-10. Current methods of investigating the environment in the womb do not measure these parameters very well even though there are ways to help improve this environment if the problem is known, for example, improving oxygenation and blood flow by administering drugs (vasodilators) that increase the blood flow to the womb (oxygen)25,26; but the clinical benefits cannot be consistently shown in current studies due to our inability to select the right patients to treat. Currently, clinicians use ultrasound or invasive sampling of the womb, but these are only snapshot measurements of what the womb is like and cannot monitor daily or monthly changes, or the parameters considered most important by embryologists to the health of a fertilized egg (oxygen, pH and temperature). To solve this problem, we have developed a small batteryless sensor that can be placed inside the womb to measure oxygen, temperature and pH before conception. Our temperature sensor prototype has already been tested in animals (rabbits) and fifteen women. Funding is now sought to develop a complete integrated sensor that records pH, dissolved oxygen and temperature for further human testing.