Determination of Fetal Sex from Maternal Pulse Intensity |Biomedgrid

Aim: Determination of fetal gender by palpating the intensity of the maternal pulse on the right and left 5th finger, based on the Ayurvedic principle that there is a ‘nadi' (a pathway or channel in the human body) connecting the pregnancy and the 5th finger. Methods: 130 pregnant women from the Obstetrics Pathology Department-UCK, Gdansk, Poland were included in the study. Twin pregnancies were excluded. The intensity of pulse on the right 5th finger was palpated followed by palpation of the left 5th finger. The intensity of the pulse on both fingers was analyzed and the side with the higher intensity of the pulse was determined. The gender was noted based on the side of higher intensity and the gender was then confirmed by the candidates themselves as well as by ultrasound. If the palpated pulse on the 5th finger was higher on the right side the conceived fetus was a male and if the intensity was higher on the left 5th finger, the conceived fetus was a female. Results: Out of all the candidates (n=138), no permission was granted from few (n=7) and twin pregnancies (n=21) were excluded. Out of 110 candidates the readings of (n=89), 80.9% were correct. Readings of (n=21), 19% were incorrect out of which in candidates (n=2), it was not possible to analyze the result as it was difficult to palpate the pulse. Conclusion: This study showcased a novel approach to fetal sex determination in Western Medicine outside the normal method of fetal ultrasound. Implementation of this principle showed higher detection rates (80.9%) as compared to a method of determining fetal gender by fetal heart rate or by a guess (50%). A cost effective, easy to use and time-saving method, not requiring any prerequisites (can be done by anyone irrespectively) The principles of this study can be a new opening in the field of obstetrics for an efficient determination of fetal gender especially in low-resource countries.