Metabolism monitoring of body organs
First Claim
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1. A method for determining a degree of oxygenation of hemoglobin in probed regions of a human body, which comprises the steps of:
- successively selecting a plurality of probed regions and for each(a) irradiating said probed region with diffuse near-infrared laser light;
(b) generating at least one ultrasound wave, chosen from among continuous, pulse or burst waves;
(c) focusing said ultrasound wave in at least a focus region of said probed region, to modulate and frequency-shift said light in said probed region;
(d) detecting said light, modulated by said ultrasound wave, emerging from said focus region;
(e) determining a change in the absorption of said modulated light caused by local changes in said probed region; and
(f) calculating from said change in the absorption the change in the degree of hemoglobin oxygenation in the probed region.
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Abstract
Method and apparatus for determining the oxygenation level of hemoglobin in a probed region of the human body. A probed region of the body is irradiated with diffuse light, the frequency of which is shifted with ultrasound focused at the probed region. The relation between the two states of the oxygenation of the hemoglobin is determined by the light absorption at the focal region of the ultrasound. The blood volume may be monitored by irradiating the probed region with light at the isosbestic point.
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Citations
55 Claims
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1. A method for determining a degree of oxygenation of hemoglobin in probed regions of a human body, which comprises the steps of:
- successively selecting a plurality of probed regions and for each
(a) irradiating said probed region with diffuse near-infrared laser light;
(b) generating at least one ultrasound wave, chosen from among continuous, pulse or burst waves;
(c) focusing said ultrasound wave in at least a focus region of said probed region, to modulate and frequency-shift said light in said probed region;
(d) detecting said light, modulated by said ultrasound wave, emerging from said focus region;
(e) determining a change in the absorption of said modulated light caused by local changes in said probed region; and
(f) calculating from said change in the absorption the change in the degree of hemoglobin oxygenation in the probed region. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
- successively selecting a plurality of probed regions and for each
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17. Apparatus for determining the oxygenation level of hemoglobin in a probed region of a human body, which comprises:
- at least one light generator;
optical fiber bundles and coupling devices optically connecting said generator to the part of the body comprising said probed region;
at least a transducer for generating an ultrasound wave and a focus of said ultrasound wave in said probed region;
optical fibers which collect light that has passed through the probed region and through said focus of said ultrasound wave and transmit it to at least one receiving instrument, and means for elaborating the signals generated by said receiving instrument, said apparatus further comprising a beam splitter, a camera, a discriminator and a liquid crystal valve situated in front of said at least one receiving instrument, in order to increase signal to noise ratio. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
- at least one light generator;
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25. A method for determining a degree of oxygenation of hemoglobin in a probed region of a human body, which comprises the steps of:
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(a) irradiating a probed region of the human brain with diffuse near-infrared laser light;
(b) generating at least one ultrasound wave, chosen from among continuous, pulse or burst waves;
(c) focusing said ultrasound wave in at least a focus region of said probed region, to modulate and frequency-shift said light in said probed region;
(d) detecting said light, modulated by said ultrasound wave, emerging from said focus region;
(e) determining a change in the absorption of said modulated light caused by local changes in said probed region; and
(f) calculating from said change in the absorption the change in the degree of hemoglobin oxygenation in said probed region. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A method for determining a degree of oxygenation of hemoglobin in a probed region of a human body, which comprises the steps of:
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(a) irradiating the probed region with diffuse near-infrared laser light;
(b) generating at least one ultrasound wave, chosen from among continuous, pulse or burst waves;
(c) focusing said ultrasound wave in at least a focus region of said probed region, to modulate and frequency-shift said light in said probed region;
(d) detecting said light, modulated by said ultrasound wave, emerging from said focus region;
(e) determining the change in the absorption of said modulated light caused by local changes in said probed region; and
(f) calculating from said change in the absorption the change in the degree of hemoglobin oxygenation in said probed region;
wherein the light modulated by said ultrasound emerging from the said probed region is detected by a technique chosen from among time sampling and lock-in CCD technique. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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Specification