LMS News

2005-05-25
Dr. Emily Hamilton to speak at the international forum on birth in Rome, Italy, June 8 – 11, 2005

Montreal, Quebec, May 25, 2005 - Dr. Emily Hamilton, Founder of LMS Medical Systems, a healthcare technology company and developer of the CALM™ system (Computer Assisted Labor Management), will be speaking at the upcoming “International Forum on Birth” in Rome, Italy, June 8 – 11, 2005.

The Forum was organized to discuss the many implications that labor and delivery and elective cesarean section have on patients, the healthcare system and society. The focus will be on how to ensure the best possible outcome for the mother and baby, the risks and advantages of the various methods of delivery, as well as the long and short-term consequences of the procedures. The ethical and cultural dimensions as well as the economic implications of elective primary cesarean section will be a major focus of discussion.

Considering that “Failure to Progress” in labor is the underlying cause of approximately 60% of all cesareans it is remarkable that there is little empirical data supporting current intervention guidelines. Dr. Hamilton will be focusing on this issue as well as the varied laboring conditions seen in contemporary obstetrics.

In her first presentation, Dr. Hamilton challenges the current definition of “normal” labor progress. She will discuss how simplistic measures such as rates of dilatation under standardized conditions have limited value in evaluating labor progress as there is considerable diversity in how an individual will progress compared to others even under identical conditions. Dr. Hamilton will reveal a statistical model that adjusts for the individual changing conditions of a woman in labor and compares to the norm via percentile rankings. She will demonstrate through this model a more flexible, quantitative and objective assessment of progress and a unified approach to labor evaluation.

In her second presentation, Dr. Hamilton evaluates the question: How long should an arrest of dilatation last, before a c-section is indicated? “Arrest of dilatation under specified conditions” is generally considered to be predictive of the impossibility of vaginal delivery. However arrests commonly occur in normal labor. Through her research Dr. Hamilton demonstrates how duration of arrest of dilatation is the poorest predictor of the impossibility of vaginal delivery whereas station (at the last examination in the first stage) is a better discriminator and the best is a combination of a labor percentile ranking and the duration of arrest of dilatation.

Dr. Hamilton is an associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at McGill University. She is also Vice President of Medical Research at LMS Medical Systems in Montreal where she has guided the company in bringing to market a set of cutting edge obstetrical tools for the evaluation of labor and fetal tolerance to labor in order to help teams improve outcomes and reduce risk. The CALM tools incorporate statistical processes to quantify normal and abnormal labor progression as well as digital signal processing and neural network applications for the identification of abnormal fetal heart rate patterns. The CALM Curve provides for consistent and objective assessment of the labor progress at the bedside. CALM Patterns provides objective, real-time measurement and classification of fetal heart rate patterns. These tools address themes commonly found in adverse outcomes namely, failure to recognize and respond to abnormal tracings and prolonged labor.

For more information about this Forum, please see http://www.birth2005.it.