Pressure microsensing catheters for neonatal care

A pressure microsensing catheter for neonatal care has been developed to measure intravascular blood pressure. The design uses polymer flip-chip bonding on a flexible Kapton film for mounting silicon pressure microsensors into the 5 French dual lumen neonatal catheters (1.67 mm o.d.). While other groups have mounted MEMS sensors on guide wires, our dual-lumen approach permits one lumen of the catheter to contain a packaged pressure sensor while the other lumen retains the catheter functionality. The packaged sensors were characterized in nitrogen and water environments, both statically and dynamically.