Integrated Fiber Optic Sensor Umbilical Catheter for Blood Gas Monitoring

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The monitoring of arterial blood gases is essential for the management of any sick infant, but is especially important in vulnerable, extremely premature infants where even a minimal delay in appropriate interventions can be the difference between life and death. Intermittent monitoring of blood gases, as is traditionally performed, provides only a spot check of the physio-pathological status of the patient; the results are often delayed from the actual event triggering blood gas analysis, and the procedure, besides predisposing to iatrogenic infections, in itself is painful and, over time, can result in significat blood loss. Continuous and non-invasive monitoring is preferable for monitoring blood gases, but current non-invasive continuous modalities have significant limitations. This has led to several attempts to develop a non-invasive and continuous blood gas monitoring system, but without success, and at present no commercially available system exists that fulf