Emerging Technology for Noninvasively Measuring Oxygen Saturations

TOPIC IMPORTANCE: estimation have several limitations. Many technologies are under development to address this unmet clinical need. REVIEW FINDINGS: measurement based on chemical, optical, or nuclear-magnetic principles. Their use is mostly limited to specific clinical settings such as oncology, wound healing, or cerebral oxygen assessment. Emerging technologies with use of green light have shown preliminary potential and are under clinical development. SUMMARY: Optics-based technologies have shown the most promise for noninvasive measurement of oxygen in arterial blood or at the tissue level. Both red-infrared as well as blue-green light spectra are absorbed by melanin, oxyhemoglobin, and deoxyhemoglobin. Thus, these optics-based methods have the intrinsic limitation of skin tone (melanin) confounding their effect. Accuracy for these measurements could be enhanced following incorporation of a correction factor for the absorption of the light by skin melanin.