26 May 2026

Wearable ultrasound patch gave continuous readings in 52 pregnant women

Sensors, imaging and electronic skinMedical technology and bioelectronics
AI illustration · Illustrative scene, not a photograph of the specific device or experiment.

What was demonstrated

A soft wearable ultrasound patch, the UPatch, sits on the mother's abdomen. In validation, its readings showed good agreement with a handheld clinical ultrasound device on 62 pregnancies, for anatomical structures and blood flow velocities. Continuous monitoring was then carried out in sessions of one to six hours in 52 pregnant women, including healthy pregnancies and pregnancies with small or large for gestational age, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia and gestational hypertension. The abstract summaries and press coverage reviewed give no agreement statistics and no per-group numbers.

Why it matters

If continuous readings hold up in larger studies, a patch that tracks fetal anatomy and blood flow over hours could support closer follow-up of high-risk pregnancies than periodic scans allow. The current system is not fully wireless, so the work is best read as an early feasibility result.

Caveats

  • Coverage of the study reports good agreement with a handheld device but gives no agreement statistics. The full text was not accessible, so no statistics were checked.
  • The authors note that integration with a miniaturised circuit could enable fully wireless operation, and press coverage describes the current patch as connected to a bulky backend powering system. The system is therefore not fully wireless.
  • Continuous monitoring was reported across mixed conditions in 52 women, and the sources reviewed give no per-group results. One press report (Medical Xpress) gives 62 pregnancies for the continuous data, which conflicts with the 52 women given in the abstract summary and in ScienceAlert.
  • This is a research study, not a regulated clinical product.

Technology profiles

Sources

  1. peer reviewed paper
    Fetal monitoring for high-risk pregnancies using a wearable ultrasound patch
    Geonho Park, Yizhou Bian, Hao Huang et al.. Nature Biotechnology, 26 May 2026. DOI: 10.1038/s41587-026-03140-1.
  2. university press release
    Wearable Ultrasound Patch Could Improve Care for High-Risk Pregnancies
    UC San Diego Today, 26 May 2026.
  3. news
    Wearable ultrasound patch for high-risk pregnancies could improve care
    Medical Xpress, 26 May 2026.
  4. news
    New Wearable Ultrasound Device Could 'Transform' Pregnancy Care
    ScienceAlert, 30 May 2026.

Last reviewed 21 Oct 2026.