System and method for detection of changes in mechanical impendance, E.G. uterine contractions.

摘要

A system (100) for tracing uterine contraction comprises a probe (101) and an electronics module (103) including a drive circuit (107) and an output section (109) having a frequency display (111), the probe having an electro-mechanical transducer (117) which is driven at a resonant frequency by the action of the drive circuit (107), so that when the probe (101) contacts the abdomen of a pregnant subject (99), changes in the mechanical impedance of bodily tissue during a contraction affect the resonant frequency of the probe (101) and thus the frequency output by the drive circuit (107). This frequency can be read directly from the frequency display (111) and recorded on a strip-chart (115) of the output section (109) so that contractions can be traced.