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System for long-term measurement of cerebral blood and tissue oxygenation on newborn infants by near infra-red transillumination

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Abstract

The technique of near-infra-red spectroscopy allows safe continuous monitoring of changes in blood and tissue oxygenation on an intact organ. This is made possible by observing spectral changes in the tissues caused by oxygenated haemoglobin [HbO2], deoxygenated haemoglobin [Hb] and cytochrome aa3 [Cyt aa3]. The paper describes the design and performance of an instrument that has been developed to apply this technique to the monitoring of the brain in newborn infants. The instrument monitors optical transmission changes across a newborn infant's brain at four wavelengths. A standard deviation in error of 1 per cent (0·01 optical density OD) is achieved on measurements of transmission changes at 20s intervals. This performance is obtained at a mean attenuation of 10 OD, the approximate attenuation across a term infant's head. Long-term monitoring is possible as instrumental drift is less than 0·004 OD per hour.

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Cope, M., Delpy, D.T. System for long-term measurement of cerebral blood and tissue oxygenation on newborn infants by near infra-red transillumination. Med. Biol. Eng. Comput. 26, 289–294 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02447083

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02447083

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