Jim Cast
Headquarters, Washington, DC              September 18, 1995
(Phone:  202/358-1779)

June Malone/Bob Lessels
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL
(Phone:  205/544-0034)



RELEASE:  95-153

SPACE-AGE FORCEPS COULD MAKE INFANT DELIVERY SAFER

    NASA technology using composite materials and fiber 
optic sensing may soon be at work in hospital delivery 
rooms, making childbirth safer and easier.

    NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, 
recently signed a Space Act Agreement with Dr. Jason H. 
Collins of the Collins Clinic in Slidell, LA, to redesign 
the obstetrical forceps used to properly position an infant 
in a mother's womb prior to delivery.

    The research at Marshall will seek to identify a 
suitable composite material from which safer forceps can be 
made, and also help design instrumentation to measure the 
forces being applied to an infant during an instrument-
assisted delivery.

    "Metal forceps currently used do not allow the attending 
physician to assess the force the instrument is placing on 
the infant," according to Dr. Collins.  "If excessive, the 
infant could be injured."

    The instrumentation of the forceps will benefit medical 
students as well.  Currently, obstetricians must acquire a 
"feel" for their instruments during actual infant deliveries 
to ascertain how much force is safe.  The instrumented 
forceps will allow obstetrical students to learn to use 
forceps within safe limits before entering practice. 

    "We hope to complete work on the new forceps early next 
year," said Stan Smeltzer of Marshall's Structures and 
Dynamics Laboratory.  Smeltzer is the design engineer on the 
Marshall team working with Dr. Collins.  "Using composite 
materials will help ensure that a safer distribution of 
pressure will be applied to the infant through the forceps 
used by the physician," Smeltzer said.


                    -more-

                    -2-

    "By using space program instrumentation technology, 
fiber optic sensors will be embedded in the composite 
material during the manufacturing process," said Seth Lawson 
of Marshall's Materials and Processes Laboratory. Lawson is 
the manufacturing engineer of the team working with Dr. 
Collins.  "These sensors will enable the physician to 
monitor forces on the infant throughout the delivery."

    NASA's involvement in the forceps program resulted from 
a request for technical assistance from Dr. Collins to 
Marshall's Technology Transfer Office.  The two Marshall 
engineers will perform the design and analysis, produce 
design drawings, identify suitable composite materials, and 
conduct testing of samples of candidate materials for the 
composite forceps.  The Collins Clinic will develop and 
clinically qualify the new obstetrical forceps.  

    Marshall's Technology Transfer Office is responsible for 
the direct transfer of NASA-inspired ideas and solutions to 
businesses throughout the Southeast.  The office also 
interacts with companies and government organizations around 
the country, providing assistance for a variety of 
technology challenges.
 


                    - end -


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