Clinical applications of tissue oxygen saturation measurements

Abstract

This paper describes a number of clinical applications of non-invasive tissue haemoglobin oxygen saturation (StO2) measurements using both visible and near infrared spectrophotometric techniques. In two cases they became routine clinical tools. The applications of visible spectrophotometry described include amputation level viability prediction in critical limb ischaemia, continuous post-operative monitoring of TRAM (transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous) flaps and the measurement of S tO2 in the colon in order to investigate the presence of colonic ischaemia. Near infrared spectroscopy was applied to measure subcutaneous StO2 in abdominal surgical wounds during the post-operative period in order to investigate whether low levels of tissue oxygenation were associated with subsequent surgical site infections (SSIs) and whether there may be a predictive minimum level of subcutaneous SO2 (SsctO2) that could be used as an indicator for early intervention to prevent SSIs. All of the above applications demonstrated the significant contribution that tissue oxygen saturation measurements can make to clinical diagnosis and monitoring. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.