Wearable blood perfusion monitor
Skin is the largest and outermost organ of the body. It is actively employed for thermoregulation which is achieved by altering the amount of blood (perfusion) in the dermal layer. Blood perfusion changes can be triggered by different extrinsic or intrinsic factors and can be short-term or prolonged.
Cutaneous blood perfusion (CBP) is an important physiological parameter which can serve as an indicator of body hemodynamic function. For example, in circulatory failure, blood flow is diverted from the less important organs such as the skin to the vital organs. Thus monitoring CBP can be an early marker of the hypoperfusion of vital tissues.
We have implemented a wearable device for non-invasive and continuous CBP assessment with a minimal susceptibility to the movements of the subject.
References
“The Effect of Blood Content on the Optical and Dielectric Skin Properties”, P Zakharov, F Dewarrat, A Caduff and M S Talary, Physiol Meas, 2011, 32(1), 131-149
"A wearable diffuse reflectance sensor for continuous monitoring of cutaneous blood content". P. Zakharov, M. S. Talary and A. Caduff, Phys Med Biol. 2009, 54(17): 5301-20 [PDF] [DOI]