Skin CO2 monitoring for early detection of pressure ulcers using an optical fiber CO2 sensor

Afroze, Nadia, Correia, Ricardo, Worsley, Pete, Hayes-Gill, Barrie, Lee, Seung-Woo, Morgan, Stephen P. and Korposh, Serhiy (2023) Skin CO2 monitoring for early detection of pressure ulcers using an optical fiber CO2 sensor. In 28th International Conference on Optical Fiber Sensors. Optica Publishing Group.. (doi:10.1364/OFS.2023.tu3.8).

Abstract

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitted by the skin during loading is a potential biomarker for the early detection of pressure ulcers (PUs). In this work, a reflection mode optical fibre CO₂ sensor (OFCS) was developed for early prediction of PUs formation. The optical fibre tip was coated with thymol blue using a sol-gel coating process. The highest absorption peak of the OFCS was achieved at a wavelength of approximately 600 nm. The OFCS had response and recovery times of 60 seconds and 413 seconds, respectively, in the range of 0 ppm (0% CO₂) to 50000 ppm (5% CO₂). The sensor was tested on ten healthy volunteers measuring CO₂ emitted from the skin during weight loading to mimic conditions that could lead to tissue breakdown. The CO₂ concentration increased during tissue loading indicating local tissue ischemia, a precursor to pressure ulcer formation.

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Contributors

Author: Pete Worsley

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