Optical in-fiber bragg grating sensor systems for medical applications

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Optical Sensing Technologies
• Medical Device Development

Background:

• Accurate temperature monitoring is critical in various medical applications, including cardiac output measurement and in vivo imaging.
• Traditional electrical temperature sensors have limitations in certain medical environments.
• Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs) offer potential advantages as temperature sensors due to their small size, immunity to electromagnetic interference, and multiplexing capabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate two distinct in-fiber Bragg grating (FBG) temperature sensor systems designed for medical applications.
• To evaluate the performance of these FBG sensors against established electrical sensors.
• To assess the suitability of FBG sensor technology for specific medical procedures like cardiac monitoring and NMR imaging.

Main Methods:

• Development of an FBG flow-directed thermodilution catheter utilizing interferometric detection of wavelength shift for cardiac monitoring.
• Implementation of an FBG sensor system incorporating a tunable Fabry-Perot filter for in vivo temperature profiling within Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) machines.
• Comparison of FBG sensor readings with those from conventional electrical temperature sensors.

Main Results:

• The FBG-based thermodilution catheter demonstrated effective wavelength shift detection for cardiac monitoring.
• The FBG sensor system with a tunable Fabry-Perot filter provided accurate in vivo temperature profiling in NMR environments.
• Preliminary results indicated good agreement between the FBG sensors and widely used electrical sensors.
• Field tests confirmed the FBG sensor system's suitability for in situ temperature monitoring in NMR machines.

Conclusions:

• Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) technology is a viable and accurate method for temperature sensing in demanding medical applications.
• The developed FBG sensor systems offer a promising alternative to traditional electrical sensors for cardiac monitoring and NMR temperature profiling.
• FBG sensors are suitable for in situ temperature measurements in medical imaging and monitoring devices.