EMG diagnostic method to assess uterine cervix smooth muscle activity

A mechanism of the uterine cervix smooth muscle activity will be studied in humans and in an animal model (gravid instrumented sheep) aiming at helping those women who come to a hospital due to a threatened pre-term labour or having difficulties at the term labour. As the activity of the uterine smooth muscles may be monitored by recording electromyographic (EMG) activity, most of research groups around the world pay their attention to the uterine corpus. Our group has been oriented towards the cervix and its role in preterm labour and long-lasting or delayed labours at term. Beside the improvement in general understanding of mechanisms influencing the process of pregnancy and labour, the objective of the project is to design a diagnostic device to indicate early pathological changes in the cervix that may leed to an unwanted outcome. Our hypothesis is that we could detect early changes in uterine EMG activity and thus give an obstretitian additional decision-making tool to influence the process by using adequate therapy. Spontaneous EMG activity will be recorded in sheep during pregnancy. To learn more from the animal model we’ll modulate EMG activity by application of tocolitics and/or electrical stimulation. At labour EMG will be recorded in sheep and in humans. To efficiently test EMG processing algorithms an international web database will be created to which international research community will contribute their EMG records gathered in different settings and models. The project should resulted in a pre-production prototype of a diagnostic device.