E!9833 Development of neonate bedside lung monitoring sensor based on diode laser spectroscopy

The lungs are one of the last organs to develop during the pregnancy and their function and maturity are decisive for the infant's survival and its future quality of life in a preterm birth. Most infants born before the 30th week of gestation have problems with respiration. To assist with opening the air sacs the patient is treated with mechanical ventilation and CPAP (overpressure). This treatment can be vital to the patient, but can lead to certain complications. So-called bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a chronic lung disease common in premature infants, in particular those treated extensively with mechanical ventilation. With proper monitoring of the lung function the breathing aid can be optimized, thereby reducing the risk of chronic lung problems. Standard treatment methods for these patients are currently respirator, CPAP, and oxygen and so-called surfactant therapy. Monitoring of respirator air, pulse oximeters, X-ray photography, and invasive blood gas analysis are used for monitoring and diagnostics. It is desirable to reduce the use of X-rays on premature infants due to the risk of later development of cancer. Also reducing the need for invasive blood gas analyses is desirable, as they can lead to bleeding, infections, and damage to nerves and blood vessels. Using the GASMAS method (gas in scattering media absorption spectroscopy) for monitoring the oxygen inside the lungs provides a new non-invasive method for monitoring the lung function. The technique is based on diode laser spectroscopy, where laser light is sent into the tissue, interacts with gases in voids inside the tissue, e.g. the lungs, and the back-reflected light is detected. The goal is a bedside medical device that can be connected to the infant via soft pads that contain optical transmitters and receivers for the narrow-band diode laser light, used for measuring the amount of gas and oxygen concentration directly through the chest.

I prosjektet er det tatt frem en prototype for noninvasiv overvåkning av oksygen i lungene til for tidlige fødte babyer. Denne er planlagt benyttet i en klinisk studie som skal starte innen to år etter prosjektets slutt. Den kliniske studien danner grunnlag for et kommersielt medisinsk apparat som skal gi forbedret overvåkning og diagnostisering av for tidlig fødte babyer. Forbedret overvåkning og diagnostisering gir økt overlevelsesrate og bedre livskvalitet senere i livet.

The object of this project is to develop a system for real-time, non-invasive monitoring of the lungs of preterm babies. Lung complications are very common in babies born before pregnancy week 30. The novel method "gas in scattering media absorption spectroscopy", GASMAS, holds the promise of a non-invasive, bedside laser monitoring system to improve lung diagnostics and ventilator optimisation. The outcome will be a prototype medical device that can be used in a clinical trial.