PulseNex

PulseNex’s mission is to advance maternal and fetal care through explainable AI. We combine continuous fetal heart monitoring with maternal, paternal, and clinical data to detect risk earlier and more accurately. In pregnancy and labor, time and trust are critical. By generating transparent, clinically interpretable predictions, we help providers recognize warning signs sooner so they can act earlier and reduce preventable complications. PulseNex aims to transform perinatal care by turning complex data into personalized insight for providers and patients.

3.6 million babies are born in U.S. hospitals each year. Of these births, around 90% will utilize a device known as a continuous fetal heart rate monitor. This device provides real-time tracking of a baby’s heart rate during labor. The device was rapidly adopted in the 1970s and is now a staple to detect distress signals and inform interventions. While it is true that monitoring can assist in specific scenarios, this device, coined the “worst test in medicine”, has a 99% false positive rate. Evidence suggests that for low-risk pregnancies it leads to more unwarranted interventions and does not improve outcomes for newborns. Given that the vast majority of pregnancies are low-risk (92-94%), it is crucial to address this issue. Furthermore, regardless of risk, these devices do not show any improvements in perinatal death. This indicates that the interpretation of these signals does not reliably distinguish which patients need intervention, in spite of the fact that they are widely used. The current weakness in fetal heart rate monitoring does not lie in signal collection, but in a lack of consistent and context-dependent readings that are able to separate risk from noise. Fetal heart rate monitoring signals are noisy and have extremely high variance. Interpretation still depends heavily on individual clinical judgment, and a 2023 systematic review found substantial inconsistency in how providers read these tracings. The key is in the context: we can’t expect nurses and doctors on a full floor to synthesize these signals with the entire patient history and interpret them accordingly. In fact, combing through records for just one patient can take a nurse up to an hour depending on the complexity of the case. Oftentimes paternal data is left out of the equation entirely, despite the fact that it contributes to a variety of risk factors. No patient wants a missed signal to result in adverse outcomes for their baby. Missed signals also cost hospitals immensely, with high cost for NICU admissions, downstream complications, and potential lawsuits. However, if providers always err on the side of caution and intervention, they can harm patients with unnecessary and potentially risky procedures. PulseNex is necessary because it addresses this gap directly. PulseNex aims to better interpret these signals by combining critical data from the maternal and paternal medical records, labs, imaging, and other sources with real-time monitoring data. Patient history and data provide information that can help distinguish between high and low risk and detect subtle conditions. AI is able to merge complex features and find patterns quickly and thoroughly. Current companies in this space decipher fetal heart rate signals in isolation and with simple techniques. PulseNex has the potential to greatly improve patient care by combining knowledge from multiple sources to reach personalized conclusions. In doing so, it can better outcomes through informed alerts, reduce burden on staff, and cut down costs for hospitals.