Department of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico Di Milano, Via La Masa 1, 20156, Milan, Italy.
Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering "G. Natta", Politecnico Di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 31, 20133, Milan, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2024 May 1;14(1):10004. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-60064-z.
The 3.1 target of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations aims to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030. The last updates on this target show a significant stagnation in the data, thus reducing the chance of meeting it. What makes this negative result even more serious is that these maternal deaths could be avoided through prevention and the wider use of pharmacological strategies and devices to stop postpartum haemorrhage (PPH). PPH is the leading obstetric cause of maternal mortality in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Despite low-cost devices based on the uterine balloon tamponade (UBT) technique are already available, they are not safe enough to guarantee the complete stop of the bleeding. When effective, they are too expensive, especially for LMICs. To address this issue, this study presents the design, mechanical characterisation and technology assessment performed to validate a novel low-cost UBT kit, particularly a novel component, i.e., the connector, which guarantees the kit's effectiveness and represents the main novelty. Results proved the device's effectiveness in stopping PPH in a simulated scenario. Moreover, economic and manufacturing evaluations demonstrated its potential to be adopted in LMICs.
联合国可持续发展目标的 3.1 目标旨在将全球孕产妇死亡率在 2030 年之前降低到每 10 万例活产中少于 70 例死亡。这一目标的最新数据显示，其进展显著停滞，从而降低了实现这一目标的机会。更糟糕的是，这些孕产妇死亡本可以通过预防和更广泛地使用药物策略和设备来阻止产后出血（PPH）来避免。PPH 是中低收入国家（LMICs）孕产妇死亡的主要产科原因。尽管已经有基于子宫球囊压迫（UBT）技术的低成本设备，但它们不够安全，无法保证完全止血。在有效时，它们又过于昂贵，尤其是对 LMICs 而言。为了解决这个问题，本研究介绍了为验证一种新型低成本 UBT 套件而进行的设计、机械特性和技术评估，特别是一种新型组件，即连接器，它保证了套件的有效性，是主要的创新点。研究结果证明了该设备在模拟场景中阻止 PPH 的有效性。此外，经济和制造评估表明它有可能在 LMICs 中得到采用。
