2 U. THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER

FEBRUARY 1988

2 U. THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 1988

Glove
Continued From Page 1
While shoulder dystocia occurs in
only one percent of vaginal births per
year, it can be very dangerous. At least
six instances of fetal death have occur-
red because of asphyxiation, Sorab said.
Infant shoulder dystocia also causes
severe blood loss to the delivering
mother.
Working with an obstetrician at the
U. of Texas Health Science Center,
Sorab designed a "sensor glove" to study

how much force can be safely applied
during delivery.
By having doctors wear sensor "rings"
on each finger, Sorab was able to detect
the force exerted against the baby. The
sensors feed information to a computer,
which records the amount of force used
to pull the baby out.
The sensor glove was used on 24 ran-
domly selected births during a two-
month trial period last gummer, Sorab
said.
In one case of shoulder dystocia, he

said, the baby's collarbone was broken
during delivery. Because they had been
recording force levels up to that point,
researchers were able to determine a
maximum force that could be applied.
Data from the sensor glove indicates
that a routine birth requires about six
pounds of force. In a case of shoulder
dystocia, the doctor may have to pull
four times that hard, Sorab said.
"When the forces reach a level that we
think can cause damage, the computer
sends out an audible warning," he said.

Without this technology, doctors must
rely on intuition and experience.
Sorab hopes to do a year-long clinical
trial with the system. He said he'd also
like to investigate the effects of the
other methods used for shoulder dys- 4
tocia.
Sorab's development of the sensor
glove has already been awarded a silver
medal in the James Lincoln Arc Weld-
ing Foundation's National Design Con-
test, the highest reward given to gradu-
ate students in mechanical en-
gineering.

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