Andover, Mass.Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) today announced the availability of triplets monitoring functionality for its industry-leading line of obstetrical care fetal and maternal monitors, Avalon FM20 antepartum and Avalon FM30 intrapartum. Philips is the first company to introduce a fetal monitor that enables non-invasive triplets monitoring with a single device.

High-risk pregnancies with multiples require vigilant obstetrical care. Their incidence is rising due to older mothers and the use of fertility therapies. In the last two decades the number of higher order multiples births (triplets or more) in the U.S. has increased substantially, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Recognizing this growing need, Philips has extended its advanced ultrasound fetal monitoring technology to enable triplets monitoring.

With the worldwide increase in the birth rate for triplets, were pleased to pioneer non-invasive triplets monitoring in a single monitor, said David Russell, vice president of global marketing, patient monitoring, for Philips Medical Systems. Triplets monitoring is yet another example of our long-standing commitment to developing sophisticated, advanced obstetrical care products for clinicians and patients that are accurate, reliable and extremely intuitive to operate.

Built on Philips industry-leading IntelliVue patient monitoring platform, Avalon FM20 antepartum monitors and Avalon FM30 intrapartum monitors use three channels of high-quality ultrasound tracing and check coincidence between the heart rates of the mother and all fetuses to help ensure each fetus is being monitored. The monitor displays the three fetal heart rates, along with the mothers heart rate, on a color touchscreen.

Two features help clinicians sort out multiple fetal heart traces. Trace Separation was pioneered by Philips for twins monitoring and has now been expanded for triplets monitoring with the new Avalon FM20 and FM30 monitors. Trace Separation allows users to stack multiple traces along the vertical scale, which adjusts to ensure the traces can be read clearly. Users can also assign a different line thickness to each fetal heart rate trace.

The Transducer Finder feature identifies which transducer is monitoring each heart rate. When a user selects any fetal heart rate on the monitor display, the corresponding transducer lights up.

Both Avalon FM20 and FM30 track maternal blood pressure, pulse and uterine activity. The Avalon FM30 also monitors maternal SpO2 and ECG. It covers patients from the onset of contractions through the final stages of delivery with its full set of external and internal fetal parameters, such as ultrasound and direct fetal heart rate, toco and intrauterine pressure.

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