OPTIMIZATION OF A RESPONSIVE CLINICAL PERFUSION MONITOR

THIS PROJECT'S GOAL IS TO DEVELOP A SENSITIVE, LINEAR, MINIMALLY INVASIVE THERMAL TRANSDUCER AS THE BASIS OF A CLINICAL INSTRUMENT FOR THE MEASURING AND MONITORING OF OF TISSUE THERMAL PROPERTIES, INCLUDING PERFUSION. TISSUE BLOOD FLOW IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PHYSIOLOGIC PARA- METERS AND ALSO ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT TO MEASURE. BY REVIEWING PAST WORK ON THERMAL PROBE/TISSUE INTERACTIONS, A DESIGN IN PROPOSED FOR AN INSTRUMENT WHOSE PERFORMANCE IS BASED UPON OPTIMIZING THE TRANSDUCER RESPONSE TO TISSUE PROPERTIES. IT IS SHOWN THAT THE TRANSDUCER MAY BE DESIGNEDTO POSSESS A LINEAR RESPONSE TO TISSUE THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY AND PERFUSION, ENORMOUSLY SIMPLIFYING THE NECESSARY ANALYSISPROCEDURE AND INSTRUMENTATION. THE PHASE I PROJECT WILL ADDRESS THE DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND EVALUATION OF THIS TRANSDUCER IN IN VITRO EXPERIMENTS.