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Biomedical subjects

Tomas Strömberg

Publications and source records attributed to Tomas Strömberg.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

A new fiberoptical respiratory rate monitor for the neonatal intensive care unit.

A new technique for respiratory rate measurement in the neonatal intensive care unit, fiberoptic respirometry (FORE), was tested using a specially designed nasal adapter. The aim was to investigate the system's accuracy and compare it to the transthoracic impedance (TTI) method and manual counting (MC). Further, the relationship between accuracy and degree of body movement was investigated. Seventeen neonates of median gestational age 35 weeks were included in the study. Video recordings (synchronized with data recordings) were used for classification of body movement. Breaths per minute data were obtained for 23-32-min periods per child, and a subset of these included MC performed by experienced nurses. A Bland-Altman analysis showed low accuracy of both FORE and TTI. A >20% deviation from MC was found in 22.7% and 23.8% of observations for the two methods, respectively. Both methods had accuracy problems during body movement. FORE tended to underestimate respiratory rate due to probe displacement, while TTI overestimated due to motion artefacts. The accuracy was also strongly subject-dependent. The neonates were undisturbed by the FORE device. In some cases, though, it was difficult to keep the adapter positioned in the airway. Further development should, therefore, focus on FORE adapter improvements to maintain probe position over time.

Female↗

In vivo determination of local skin optical properties and photon path length by use of spatially resolved diffuse reflectance with applications in laser Doppler flowmetry.

Methods for local photon path length and optical properties estimation, based on measured and simulated diffuse reflectance within 2 mm from the light source, are proposed and evaluated in vivo on Caucasian human skin. The accuracy of the methods was good (2%-7%) for path length and reduced scattering but poor for absorption estimation. Reduced scattering and absorption were systematically lower in the fingertip than in the forearm skin (633 nm). A maximum intrasite and interindividual variation of approximately 35% in an average photon path length was found. The methodology was applied in laser Doppler flowmetry, where path-length normalization of the estimated perfusion removed the optical property dependency.

Computer Simulation↗

Influence of optical properties and fiber separation on laser doppler flowmetry.

Microcirculatory blood flow can be measured using a laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) probe. However, the readings are affected by the tissue's optical properties (absorption and scattering coefficients, mu(a) and mu(s)) and probe geometry. In this study the influence of optical properties [mu(a)in(0.053,0.23) mm-1,mu(s)in(14.7,45.7) mm-1] on LDF perfusion and LDF sampling depth was evaluated for different fiber separations. In vitro measurements were made on a sophisticated tissue phantom with known optical properties that mimicked blood flow at different depths. Monte Carlo simulations were carried out to extend the geometry of the tissue phantom. A good correlation between measured and simulated data was found. The simulations showed that, for fixed flow at a discrete depth, the influence of mu(s) or mu(a) on LDF perfusion increased with an increase in flow depth and decreased with an increase in fiber separation. For a homogeneous flow distribution, however, the perfusion varied 40% due to variations in the optical properties, almost independent of the fiber separation (0.23-1.61 mm). Therefore, the effect in real tissue is likely to vary due to the unknown heterogeneous blood flow distribution. Further, the LDF sampling depth increased with a decrease in mu(s) or mu(a) and an increase in fiber separation. For fiber separation of 0.46 mm, the e-1 sampling depth ranged from 0.21 to 0.39 mm.

Blood Flow Velocity↗

Photon pathlength determination based on spatially resolved diffuse reflectance.

A method for the prediction of the average photon pathlength in turbid media has been developed. The method is based on spatially resolved diffuse reflectance with discrete source detector distances up to 2 mm. Light reflectance was simulated using a Monte Carlo technique with a one-layer model utilizing a wide range of optical properties, relevant to human skin. At a source detector separation of 2 mm, the pathlength can vary sixfold due to differences in optical properties. By applying various preprocessing and prediction techniques, the pathlength can be predicted with a root-mean-square error of approximately 5%. Estimation of the photon pathlength can be used, e.g., to remove the influence of optical properties on laser Doppler flowmetry perfusion readings, which are almost linearly related to the average photon pathlength.

Biophysical Phenomena↗

Toward a velocity-resolved microvascular blood flow measure by decomposition of the laser Doppler spectrum.

Tissue microcirculation, as measured by laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF), comprises capillary, arterial, and venous blood flow. With the classical LDF approach, it has been impossible to differentiate between different vascular compartments. We suggest an alternative LDF algorithm that estimates at least three concentration measures of flowing red blood cells (RBCs), each associated with a predefined, physiologically relevant, absolute velocity in millimeters per second. As the RBC flow velocity depends on the dimension of the blood vessel, this approach might enable a microcirculatory flow differentiation. The LDF concentration estimates are derived by fitting predefined Monte Carlo simulated, single-velocity spectra to a measured, multiple-velocity LDF spectrum. Validation measurements, using both single- and double-tube flow phantoms perfused with a microsphere solution, show that it is possible to estimate velocity and concentration changes, and to differentiate between flows with different velocities. Our theory is also applied to RBC flow measurements. A Gegenbauer kernel phase function (alpha(gk)=1.05; g(gk)=0.93), with an anisotropy factor of 0.987 at 786 nm, is found suitable for modeling Doppler scattering by RBCs diluted in physiological saline. The method is developed for low concentrations of RBCs, but can in theory be extended to cover multiple Doppler scattering.

Algorithms↗