Development of a Low-Intensity Light Imaging Probe for Childbirth Cervical Dilation Image Acquisition

Cervical dilation is the most important parameter that is assessed during childbirth to validate that a woman is truly in labour and whether labour is progressing as expected. It is the opening of a mother's cervix from when it is closed at 0 cm to when it is fully dilated at 10 cm, for the baby to pass through and be delivered. The cervix is a cylinder-shaped tissue that connects the uterus to the vagina. Cervical dilation is majorly assessed through a highly subjective, painful, error-prone, and infection-prone Vaginal Examination method. The method involves a doctor or midwife wearing sterilized gloves and inserting his or her fingers through the vagina to manually assess cervical dilation and mentally visualize it. Hence, in this research, a prototype of a novel low-intensity light imaging probe was developed to acquire images of cervical dilation simulation models for further processing and analysis. The probe was designed with 3D computer-aided design software. Finite element analysis was carried out on the design before it was rapid prototyped. Then, a camera and a light source were inserted into the probe to capture 2,880 cervical dilation images in low-light intensities of 28 Lux and 50 Lux, due to the penetration depth of bright light intensity and heat into tissues. Image preprocessing was carried out on the images by applying a low-light image enhancement technique. This research demonstrated the use of a low-intensity light imaging probe as a possible objective alternative to the subjective insertion of fingers in vaginal examination.