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Biomedical Sensing Applications of Diffuse Optics

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A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomedical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 28570

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Rebecca Re

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Guest Editor

1. Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Fisica, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy
2. Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie (IFN), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy
Interests: time-domain functional near-infrared spectroscopy; fNIRS device development; clinical translation of prototypes; data analysis and interpretation; biomedical application of fNIRS (cerebral activation, muscle oxidative metabolism, imaging, etc.); phantom development and tests for diffuse optics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Felipe Orihuela-Espina

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE), Sta. Maria Tonantzintla, Puebla, Mexico
Interests: data analysis and interpretation; neuroimaging; fNIRS

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Diffuse optics allows in vivo investigation of different aspects of biological tissues such as composition, oxygenation, and indirectly estimated blood flow. This Special Issue focuses on the applications of diffuse optics on living animals or human, both healthy subjects and pathological groups. Established and novel applications are considered. All the contributions where some aspects of those applications are shown are welcomed. Furthermore, theoretical models, data processing, analysis, and interpretation methodologies or tissue-like phantom acquisitions, which help toward a better understanding of the technique and its applications, are eligible. Additionally, the combinations of techniques based on diffuse optics (NIRS, fNIRS, spectroscopy, DCS) with other conventional optical or non-optical biomedical techniques (electrophysiology, MRI, PET, others) are of interest.

Dr. Rebecca Re
Dr. Felipe Orihuela-Espina
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

Diffuse optics
Modelling: human subject or living animals
Data processing, analysis, and interpretation
NIRS, fNIRS, DCS, DOT, HD-DOT, and related techniques
Devices for monitoring or imaging: continuous wave, frequency or time domain
Tissue diagnostics and optical characterization: optical properties, oxygenation, oxygen metabolism, hemoglobin, blood flow. Brain, muscle, thyroid, lipid, collagen, breast
Phantom development and preparation
Validation study and standardization protocols
Clinical and non-clinical applications (e.g., sport sciences, neuropsychology, hyperscanning, BCI, neurodegenerative, connectivity, rehabilitation, and others)

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 9178 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Performance Assessment of a Commercial Continuous-Wave Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Tissue Oximeter for Suitability for Use in an International, Multi-Center Clinical Trial

by Lorenzo Cortese, Marta Zanoletti, Umut Karadeniz, Marco Pagliazzi, M. Atif Yaqub, David R. Busch, Jaume Mesquida and Turgut Durduran

Sensors 2021, 21(21), 6957; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21216957 - 20 Oct 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2791

Abstract

Despite the wide range of clinical and research applications, the reliability of the absolute oxygenation measurements of continuous wave near-infrared spectroscopy sensors is often questioned, partially due to issues of standardization. In this study, we have compared the performances of 13 units of a continuous wave near-infrared spectroscopy device (PortaMon, Artinis Medical Systems, NL) to test their suitability for being used in the HEMOCOVID-19 clinical trial in 10 medical centers around the world. Detailed phantom and in vivo tests were employed to measure the precision and reproducibility of measurements of local blood oxygen saturation and total hemoglobin concentration under different conditions: for different devices used, different operators, for probe repositioning over the same location, and over time (hours/days/months). We have detected systematic differences between devices when measuring phantoms (inter-device variability, <4%), which were larger than the intra-device variability (<1%). This intrinsic variability is in addition to the variability during in vivo measurements on the forearm muscle resulting from errors in probe positioning and intrinsic physiological noise (<9%), which was also larger than the inter-device differences (<3%) during the same test. Lastly, we have tested the reproducibility of the protocol of the HEMOCOVID-19 clinical trial; that is, forearm muscle oxygenation monitoring during vascular occlusion tests over days. Overall, our conclusion is that these devices can be used in multi-center trials but care must be taken to characterize, follow-up, and statistically account for inter-device variability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomedical Sensing Applications of Diffuse Optics)

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11 pages, 3070 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Tissue Oximeter with Selectable Measurement Depth Using Spatially Resolved Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

by Masatsugu Niwayama and Naoki Unno

Sensors 2021, 21(16), 5573; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21165573 - 19 Aug 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2960

Abstract

Tissue oxygenation sensing at a few millimeters deep is useful for surgical and postoperative management. However, the measurement sensitivity at each depth and the proper sensor combination have not been clarified. Here, the measurement characteristics of oximetry by spatially resolved near-infrared spectroscopy were analyzed using Monte Carlo simulation and phantom experiment. From summing the sensitivities of each depth, it was quantitatively found that the measurement sensitivity curve had a peak, and the measurement depth can be adjusted by combining the two distances between the light source and the detector. Furthermore, the gastric tissue was 10–20% smaller in terms of measurement depth than the skin-subcutaneous tissue. A miniaturized oximeter was prototyped so that it could be used in combination with an endoscope or laparoscope. The optical probes consisted of light emitting diodes with wavelengths of 770 nm and 830 nm and photodetectors located 3 to 30 mm from the light source. Phantom experiments using the probes demonstrated the tendency of theoretical analysis. These results suggest the possibility of measuring tissue oxygen saturation with a selectable measurement depth. This selectable method will be useful for obtaining oxygenation information at a depth of 2–5 mm, which is difficult to measure using only laparoscopic surface imaging. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomedical Sensing Applications of Diffuse Optics)

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19 pages, 5590 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Gas Monitoring in Human Frontal Sinuses–Stability Considerations and Gas Exchange Studies

by Han Zhang, Ning Han, Yueyu Lin, Jiawen Huang, Sune Svanberg and Katarina Svanberg

Sensors 2021, 21(13), 4413; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21134413 - 28 Jun 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3773

Abstract

Acute rhinosinusitis is a common infectious disease, which, in more than 90% of cases, is caused by viruses rather than by bacteria. Even so, antibiotics are often unnecessarily prescribed, and in the long run this contributes to the alarming level of antibiotics resistance. The reason is that there are no good guiding tools for defining the background reason of the infection. One main factor for the clearance of the infection is if there is non-obstructed ventilation from the sinus to the nasal cavity. Gas in Scattering Media Absorption Spectroscopy (GASMAS) has potential for diagnosing this. We have performed a study of frontal sinuses of volunteers with a focus on signal stability and reproducibility over time, accurate oxygen concentration determination, and assessment of gas transport through passages, naturally and after decongestant spray administration. Different from earlier studies on frontal sinuses, water vapor, serving the purpose of oxygen signal normalization, was measured at 818 nm rather than earlier at 937 nm, now closer to the 760 nm oxygen absorption band and thus resulting in more reliable results. In addition, the action of decongestants was objectively demonstrated for the first time. Evaluated oxygen concentration values for left- and right-hand side sinus cavities were found to agree within 0.3%, and a left-right geometrical asymmetry parameter related to anatomical differences was stable within 10%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomedical Sensing Applications of Diffuse Optics)

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14 pages, 4758 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Extraction of the Structural Properties of Skin Tissue via Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy: An Inverse Methodology

by Bin Chen, Yong Zhang, Shang Gao and Dong Li

Sensors 2021, 21(11), 3745; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21113745 - 28 May 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2417

Abstract

For the laser treatment of vascular dermatosis, the blood vessel morphology and depth in skin tissue is essential to achieve personalized intelligent therapy. The morphology can be obtained from the laser speckle imaging, and vessel depth was extracted by an inverse methodology based on diffuse reflectance spectrum. With optimized spot size of 0.5 mm and known optical properties, the proposed method was experimentally validated via the spectral measurement of microcapillary with known size and depth embedded in an epoxy resin-based skin phantom. Results prove that vessel depth can be extracted with an average relative error of 5%, thereby providing the foundation for a personalized, precise, and intelligent laser treatment of vascular dermatosis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomedical Sensing Applications of Diffuse Optics)

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16 pages, 3545 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Compact Multi-Distance DCS and Time Domain NIRS Hybrid System for Hemodynamic and Metabolic Measurements

by Caterina Amendola, Michele Lacerenza, Mauro Buttafava, Alberto Tosi, Lorenzo Spinelli, Davide Contini and Alessandro Torricelli

Sensors 2021, 21(3), 870; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21030870 - 28 Jan 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2993

Abstract

In this work, we present a new multi-distance diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) device integrated with a compact state-of-the-art time domain near infrared spectroscopy (TD-NIRS) device. The hybrid DCS and TD-NIRS system allows to retrieve information on blood flow, tissue oxygenation, and oxygen metabolic rate. The DCS device performances were estimated in terms of stability, repeatability, ability in retrieving variations of diffusion coefficient, influence of the tissue optical properties, effect of varying count rates and depth sensitivity. Crosstalk between DCS and TD-NIRS optical signals was also evaluated. Finally, in vivo experiments (venous and arterial cuff occlusions on the arm) were conducted to test the ability of the hybrid system in measuring blood flow variations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomedical Sensing Applications of Diffuse Optics)

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Review

Jump to: Research

19 pages, 3265 KiB

Open AccessReview

Wearable, Integrated EEG–fNIRS Technologies: A Review

by Julie Uchitel, Ernesto E. Vidal-Rosas, Robert J. Cooper and Hubin Zhao

Sensors 2021, 21(18), 6106; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21186106 - 12 Sep 2021

Cited by 33 | Viewed by 11763

Abstract

There has been considerable interest in applying electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) simultaneously for multimodal assessment of brain function. EEG–fNIRS can provide a comprehensive picture of brain electrical and hemodynamic function and has been applied across various fields of brain science. The development of wearable, mechanically and electrically integrated EEG–fNIRS technology is a critical next step in the evolution of this field. A suitable system design could significantly increase the data/image quality, the wearability, patient/subject comfort, and capability for long-term monitoring. Here, we present a concise, yet comprehensive, review of the progress that has been made toward achieving a wearable, integrated EEG–fNIRS system. Significant marks of progress include the development of both discrete component-based and microchip-based EEG–fNIRS technologies; modular systems; miniaturized, lightweight form factors; wireless capabilities; and shared analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) architecture between fNIRS and EEG data acquisitions. In describing the attributes, advantages, and disadvantages of current technologies, this review aims to provide a roadmap toward the next generation of wearable, integrated EEG–fNIRS systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomedical Sensing Applications of Diffuse Optics)

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