PeriGen has joined the University of California, San Francisco and Kaiser Permanente North California to launch a ground-breaking research project to examine potentially preventable causes of birth-related brain injuries in newborns. The project looks to deepen understanding of how fetal heart rate and uterine contraction patterns indicate risk to the baby during labor in order to help improve clinicians ability to prevent brain damage.
“This project has the potential to make a significant contribution to unraveling some of the preventable causes of a condition that is devastating for far too many babies and their families,” says Matthew Sappern, PeriGen’s Chief Executive Officer.
The collaborative research project among these three highly respected organizations will study the relationship of neonatal encephalopathy and overly frequent uterine contractions and fetal heart rate abnormalities within a large birth cohort delivered by Kaiser Permanente Northern California OB physicians.
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.
