A new method for noninvasive venous blood oxygen detection

BACKGROUND: Blood oxygen saturation of vein (SvO2) is an important clinical parameter for patient monitoring. However, the existing clinical methods are invasive, expensive, which are also painful for patients. METHODS: Based on light-absorption, this study describes a new noninvasive SvO2 measurement method by using external stimulation signal to generate cyclical fluctuation signal in the vein, which overcomes the low signal-to-noise ratio problem in the measurement process. In this way, the value of SvO2 can be obtained continuously in real time. RESULTS: The experimental results demonstrate that the method can successfully measure venous oxygen saturation by artificial addition of stimulation. Under hypoxic conditions, the system can reflect the overall decline of venous oxygen saturation better. When the results measured by the new method are compared with those measured by the invasive method, the root mean square error of the difference is 5.31 and the correlation coefficient of the difference is 0.72. The new method can be used to measure SvO2 and evaluate body oxygen consumption, and its accuracy needs improvement. CONCLUSIONS: Real-time and continuous monitoring can be achieved by replacing invasive method with noninvasive method, which provides more comprehensive clinical information in a timely manner and better meet the needs of clinical treatment. However, the accuracy of the new noninvasive SvO2 measurement based on light-absorption has to be further improved. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12938-016-0208-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.