[The influence of probe geometry on the sensitivity of tissue oximeter using near infra-red spectroscopy].

Based on the modified Lambert-Beer law under scattering media, near infra-red spectroscopy tissue oximeter measures the changes of absorber concentrations (such as oxy-hemoglobin, deoxy-hemoglobin, cytochrome aa3). This is made possible by recording the optical density change under different physiological status. This paper describes the average penetration depth, average photon path-length and spatial sensitive profile in multi-layered tissue model using Monte-Carlo method. The result shows the probe geometry of the sensor, which is the separation between the light source and the detector, has a great influence on the sensitivity of measurement. Increasing this separation properly allows the improvement of the sensitivity of measurement and the increase of the probability of looking at oxygenation deep under the surface tissue. But this improvement is limited by the decrease of signal-noise ratio. Optimum probe spacing should be estimated for special tissue structure.