Medtronic Partners With Sonus on AI Ultrasound

Medtronic announced a partnership on 15 September 2026 with Sonus Microsystems to evaluate an integrated maternal health monitoring system. The project pairs Medtronic vital-sign monitoring technology from its Acute Care & Monitoring unit with the Sonus Patch, an artificial intelligence wearable ultrasound device.

The initiative is funded by the Gates Foundation under its Grand Challenges program. Clinical field studies will take place in Kenya in coordination with Kenyatta University and antenatal clinics in Nairobi. The trials aim to screen pregnant women for early-onset preeclampsia, a condition that affects roughly 8% of pregnancies globally.

The combined system aims to capture non-invasive cardiac and hemodynamic data without requiring a specialised sonographer. Rick Sethi, Senior Director of Research & Technology and Open Innovation in Medtronic's Acute Care & Monitoring business, stated that the partnership seeks to bring the transducer technology closer to clinicians across the company's monitoring portfolio.

Joshua de Souza, Senior Principal Scientist at Medtronic and principal investigator on the grant, noted that the study will evaluate whether the combined platform provides actionable clinical data for high-impact conditions. The company stated that findings from the Kenyan trial could support wider autonomous cardiac monitoring across hospital and community settings.