The influence of probe geometry on muscle oxygenation measurement using spatially-resolved NIRS

We investigated probe geometry for achieving accurate muscle oxygenation measurement using spatially-resolved NIRS. The influence of the skin, fat and an electronic circuit noise were analyzed by Monte Carlo simulation. These theoretical results suggested the source-detector separation of 20-30 mm is optimal to reduce the errors. In in vivo test, we used the optical probe which source-detector separations were 10, 20, 30 and 40 mm. The value of muscle oxygen saturation was determined using the each spatial slope of 10-20, 20-30 and 30-40 mm. The experimental results also showed that the pair of 20-30 mm was optimal for precise measurement.