Respiratory diseases are among the leading causes of death and disability. Thus, medical professionals frequently measure the parameters of respiration which are partial pressure of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood, the respiration rate, and the peripheral blood oxygen saturation. The partial pressure of oxygen in the blood can be estimated with transcutaneous monitoring, which measures the partial pressure of oxygen diffusing from the skin. Traditionally, the transcutaneous partial pressure of oxygen is measured electromechanically employing methods requiring a heating element. However, a heating element negatively affects the feasibility of the miniaturized wearable device due to increased device size and power requirement.
In the ICAS Lab, we are working on the design of miniaturized transcutaneous oxygen monitors which will overcome the drawbacks of the conventional monitors. So far, our lab designed one miniaturized prototype, one integrated readout circuit, and one complete chip based on the luminescent-film-based sensing principle. All of the designed systems can estimate the partial pressure of oxygen in the clinically significant range for humans.
