Non-Invasive NIR Sensor for Quantification of Deep Tissue Oxygenation

This proposal is ti develop a cost effective and reliable NIRS sensor for quantification of deep tissue blood oxygenation. The proposexd multielement sensor will provide oxygen saturation images of the deep tissue by measuring the differential path-lenth of an optical pseudo-impulse at two near ir wavelengths. n this sensor, high resolution path-length images of deep tissues are generated by a diode laser based PRM correlation technique which measures th maximum likelihood of pulse transit time through the tissue. The sensor employs SESI's proprietary Resolution Enhancement Technique in conjunction with the PRM correlationm technique to achieve up to a millimeter resolution with a moderate speed electronics. Simultaneous, differential path-length measurement for two wavelengths with a common channel will be implemented to reject the common mode noise, to alleviate the tissue dependent effect, and to quantify the blood oxygenation. Following the feasibility study in Phase I, a prototype system will be developed in Phase II to demonstrat the applicability of the sensor for reliable clinical applications in collaboration with medical research laboratories. A multibeam transmitter and detector array configuration will be implemented for rapid coverage of the image and for the development of a commercial imaging system.