R. Boushel et al., Monitoring tissue oxygen availability with near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in health and disease, SC J MED SC, 11(4), 2001, pp. 213-222
Citations number
64
Categorie Soggetti
Ortopedics, Rehabilitation & Sport Medicine
Journal title
SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE & SCIENCE IN SPORTS
Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is becoming a widely used research instru
ment to measure tissue oxygen (Oz) status non-invasively, Continuous-wave s
pectrometers are the most commonly used devices, which provide semiquantita
tive changes in oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin in small blood vesse
ls (arterioles, capillaries and venules), Refinement of NIRS hardware and t
he algorithms used to deconvolute the light absorption signal have improved
the resolution and validity of cytochrome oxidase measurements. NIRS has b
een applied to measure oxygenation in a variety of tissues including muscle
, brain and connective tissue, and more recently it has been used in the cl
inical setting to assess circulatory and metabolic abnormalities. Quantitat
ive measures of blood flow are also possible using NIRS and a light-absorbi
ng tracer, which can be applied to evaluate circulatory responses to exerci
se along with the assessment of tissue O-2 saturation. The venular O-2 satu
ration can be estimated with NIRS by applying venous occlusion and measurin
g changes in oxygenated vs. total hemoglobin. These various measurements pr
ovide the opportunity to evaluate several important metabolic and circulato
ry patterns in very localized regions of tissue and may be fruitful in the
study of occupational syndromes and a variety of diseases.