Joseph P. Ortner

Noninvasive method for measuring local hemoglobin oxygen saturation in tissue using wide gap second derivative near-infrared spectroscopy.

A simple continuous wave near-infrared algorithm for estimating local hemoglobin oxygen saturation in tissue (%StO2) is described using single depth attenuation measurements at 680, 720, 760, and 800 nm. Second derivative spectroscopy was used to reduce light scattering effects, chromophores with constant absorption, baseline/instrumentation drift, and movement artifacts. Unlike previous second derivative methods which focused primarily on measuring deoxyhemoglobin concentration; a wide 40 nm wavelength gap used for calculating second derivative attenuation significantly improved sensitivity to oxyhemoglobin absorption. Scaled second derivative attenuation at 720 nm was correlated to in vitro hemoglobin oxygen saturation to generate a %StO2 calibration curve. The calibration curve was insensitive to total hemoglobin, optical path length, and optical scattering. Measurement error due to normal levels of carboxyhemoglobin, methemoglobin, and water absorption were less than 10 %StO2 units. Severe methemoglobinemia or edema combined with low blood volume could cause StO2 errors to exceed 10 StO2 units. Both a broadband and commercial four-wavelength spectrometer (InSpectra) measured %StO2. The InSpectra tissue spectrometer readily detected limb ischemia on 26 human volunteers for hand, forearm, and leg muscles. A strong linear correlation, r2>0.93, between StO2 and microvascular %SO2 was observed for isolated animal hind limb, kidney, and heart.

Evidence for early supply independent mitochondrial dysfunction in patients developing multiple organ failure after trauma.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether early supply independent mitochondrial oxidative dysfunction occurs in trauma patients who develop multiple organ failure (MOF). DESIGN Prospective focused observational trial. METHODS High-risk patients were aggressively resuscitated while being continuously monitored by near infrared spectroscopy. Near infrared spectroscopy monitoring strips allow for a direct comparison of changes in tissue oxyhemoglobin levels (HbO2), which reflect local oxygen supply, and cytochrome a,a3 redox, which reflects mitochondrial oxygen consumption. Under normal conditions, HbO2 and a,a3 redox are tightly coupled. On the other hand, decoupled HbO2 and a,a3 redox is a sign of mitochondrial oxidative dysfunction. Outcomes included MOF, oxygen delivery, oxygen consumption, lactate, and the presence of decoupled HbO2 and a,a3 redox. RESULTS Twenty-four high-risk patients were studied; nine (38%) developed MOF. At 12 hours of resuscitation, MOF and non-MOF patients did not have statistically different oxygen delivery and oxygen consumption, but lactate levels were significantly higher in MOF patients. Additionally, HBO2 and a,a3 redox were decoupled in eight (89%) MOF patients compared with two (13%) non-MOF patients (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION Severely injured trauma patients who develop MOF preferentially display evidence of mitochondrial oxidative dysfunction early in the course of their resuscitation despite early goal-oriented maximization of oxygen delivery.

A wide gap second derivative NIR spectroscopic method for measuring tissue hemoglobin oxygen saturation.

We describe a four wavelength continuous wave near-infrared algorithm for estimating hemoglobin oxygen saturation in tissue using single depth attenuation measurements. The 40 nm gap second derivative algorithm and in vitro calibration method provided StO2 measurements of reasonable accuracy that were applied across a variety of tissues and probe spacings with no measured or assumed values for optical pathlength or optical scattering.