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Development of a miniaturized and modular probe for fNIRS instrument

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Abstract

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a non-invasive and promising method for continuously monitoring hemodynamic and metabolic changes in tissues. However, the existing fNIRS equipment uses optical fiber, which is bulky, expensive, and time-consuming. We present a miniaturized, modular, novel silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) detector and develop a fNIRS instrument aimed at investigating the cerebral hemodynamic response for patients with epilepsy. Light emitting probe is a circle with a diameter of 5 mm. Independent and modular light source and detector are more flexible in placement. The system can be expanded to high-density measurement with 16 light sources, 16 detectors, and 52 channels. The sampling rate of each channel is 25 Hz. Instrument performance was evaluated using brain tissue phantom and in vivo experiments. High signal-to-noise ratio (60 dB) in source detector separation (SDS) of 30 mm, good stability (0.1%), noise equivalent power (0.89 pW), and system drift (0.56%) were achieved in the phantom experiment. Forearm blood-flow occlusion experiments were performed on the forearm of three healthy volunteers to demonstrate the ability to track rapid hemodynamic changes. Breath holding experiments on the forehead of healthy volunteers demonstrated the system can well detect brain function activity. The computer software was developed to display the original light signal intensity and the concentration changes of oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO2) and deoxygenated hemoglobin (HbR) in real time. This system paves the way for our further diagnosis of epilepsy.

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source and the detector

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Funding

The work described in this paper is supported by the Science and Technology Development Plan Project of Jilin Province (20190303043SF), the “13th Five-Year Plan” Science and Technology Project of the Education Department of Jilin Province (JJKH20200964KJ), and the Interdisciplinary Research Funding Program for Doctoral students of Jilin University (101832020DJX065).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Instrumentation and Electrical Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, 130000, People’s Republic of China

    Guangda Liu, Wenjie Cui, Xinlei Hu, Ruolan Xiao, Shang Zhang & Jing Cai

  2. The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, 130000, People’s Republic of China

    Jiqing Qiu & Yuan Qi

Authors
  1. Guangda Liu
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  2. Wenjie Cui
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  3. Xinlei Hu
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  4. Ruolan Xiao
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  5. Shang Zhang
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  6. Jing Cai
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  7. Jiqing Qiu
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  8. Yuan Qi
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Correspondence to Jing Cai.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Liu, G., Cui, W., Hu, X. et al. Development of a miniaturized and modular probe for fNIRS instrument. Lasers Med Sci 37, 2269–2277 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-021-03493-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-021-03493-w

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