PeriGen, UCSF and Kaiser Permanente Northern California Unite to Research Preventable Causes of Birth-Related Brain Injury

CRANBURY, N.J., Sept. 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- PeriGen, the global leader in clinical decision support for obstetrics (OB) systems, announced today that it will join the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Kaiser Permanente North California in a ground-breaking research project to examine potentially preventable causes of birth-related brain injuries in newborns. The project's goal is to provide better understanding of fetal heart rate and uterine contraction patterns that indicate mounting risk to the baby during labor. The earlier the detection, the better the chances for clinicians to take timely actions to prevent brain damage.

The collaboration among these three highly respected organizations represents a rare and unique opportunity to study the relationship of neonatal encephalopathy to overly frequent uterine contractions and fetal heart rate abnormalities within a large birth cohort. The cohort will be delivered by Kaiser Permanente Northern California OB physicians.

"This work has the potential to make a significant contribution in a field where progress has been stymied by multiple issues," said Matthew Sappern, PeriGen's CEO. "We are honored to not only work with these accomplished perinatal authorities, but also to see PeriCALM Patterns contribute to unraveling some of the preventable causes of a condition that is devastating for babies and their families."

Neonatal encephalopathy is a clinically defined syndrome characterized by disturbed neurologic function in the earliest days of life. It can lead to lifelong impairment or cerebral palsy, depending on the severity. Criteria to define an acute intrapartum hypoxic event as sufficient to cause cerebral palsy have been advanced previously by both The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the International Cerebral Palsy Task Force.

One of the obstacles in research on uncommon conditions such as birth-related brain injury is the lack of well-documented data on births with these hypoxic complications.  These issues are addressed by the large cohort of births within the Kaiser Centers that contain comprehensive electronic data on clinical parameters and digital electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) tracings.

Using the PeriCALM^® Patterns™ solution, OB researchers can quickly and reliably analyze a high volume of EFM tracings automatically. The technology replaces the need to manually inspect miles of paper tracings in order to extract the data required to correlate their association with neonatal encephalopathy.

The multidisciplinary team of experts collaborating on this new research study are nationally renowned clinicians from the obstetrics, pediatrics, biostatistics and biomedical engineering clinical fields. Leading the project is Yvonne Wu, M.D., M.P.H., professor of clinical neurology and pediatrics at UCSF, who has devoted her research over the past 14 years to understanding the causes of cerebral palsy and neonatal encephalopathy. Her expertise is recognized internationally and has generated numerous prestigious teaching and research awards.

PeriGen's Philip Warrick, Ph.D., senior biomedical research engineer, and Emily Hamilton M.D., senior vice president of research, will contribute to the study design, data analysis and interpretation. Co-investigators include noted clinical specialists:  Michael Kuzniewicz, M.D., and Thomas Newman, M.D., from pediatrics; Julian T. Parer, M.D., and Mara Greenberg, M.D., from obstetrics; and Elaine Allen, Ph.D., from epidemiology and biostatistics.                

Funding for the research was awarded by The Clinical and Translational Science Institute – Strategic Opportunities Support Center at UCSF through the University's Resource Allocation Program (RAP). RAP coordinates intramural research funding opportunities for the UCSF campus while allowing funding agencies to maintain full autonomy over their funding mechanisms and awardees.  The program administers funding to catalyze research activities in clinical and translational sciences and to explore novel areas and innovative technologies and methodologies.

To view a list of Spring 2015 awardees, go to: http://rap.ucsf.edu/spring-2015-awardees

Tweet this: .@PeriGen joins @UCSF and @KPShare in research to help prevent birth-related brain injuries. http://bit.ly/1Kgegho | #brain #braininjuries

About PeriGen, Inc.
PeriGen, Inc. is an innovative provider of fetal surveillance systems employing patented, pattern-recognition and obstetrics technologies that empower perinatal clinicians to make confident, real-time decisions about the mothers and babies in their care. PeriGen's customer-centric team of clinicians and technologists builds the most advanced systems available to augment obstetric decision-making and improve communications among the clinical team at the point of care, while supporting data flow between healthcare IT systems.  PeriGen's fetal monitoring system is the only electronic fetal monitoring pattern recognition system that is validated by the NICHD. Visit us at www.PeriGen.com.

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