Web Desk (November 12, 2018): A new sensor made of an alternating array of printed light-emitting diodes and photodetectors can detect blood-oxygen levels anywhere in the body.
The sensor shines red and infrared light into the skin and detects the ratio of light that is reflected back.
Scientists at the University of California (UC), Berkeley have developed a new flexible sensor that can map blood-oxygen levels over large areas of skin, tissue, and organs, potentially giving doctors a new way to monitor healing wounds in real time. Injuries can’t heal without a constant influx of the chemical element.
“When you hear the word oximeter, the name for blood-oxygen sensors, rigid and bulky finger-clip sensors come into your mind,” said Yasser Khan, a graduate student in electrical engineering and computer sciences at UC Berkeley.
“We wanted to break away from that, and show oximeters can be lightweight, thin, and flexible.”
Sensor is made of organic electronics printed on bendable plastic that molds to the contours of the body. Unlike fingertip oximeters, it can detect blood-oxygen levels at nine points in a grid and can be placed anywhere on the skin.
It could potentially be used to map oxygenation of skin grafts, or to look through the skin to monitor oxygen levels in transplanted organs, the researchers say.
“Transmission-mode pulse oximetry, the optical method for determining oxygen saturation in blood, is limited to only tissues that can be transilluminated, such as the earlobes and the fingers.
The existing sensor configuration provides only single-point measurements, lacking 2D oxygenation mapping capability. Here, we demonstrate a flexible and printed sensor array composed of organic light-emitting diodes and organic photodiodes, which senses reflected light from tissue to determine the oxygen saturation.
We use the reflectance oximeter array beyond the conventional sensing locations. The sensor is implemented to measure oxygen saturation on the forehead with 1.1% mean error and to create 2D oxygenation maps of adult forearms under pressure-cuff–induced ischemia,” write the investigators.
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