Comet Measurement System for Cellular Monitoring Industry - Medical / Health Care - Medical Monitoring
Anesthesiologist Dr. Egbert Mik, building on his invention made together with Dr. Michiel Sinaasappel, developed the protoporphyrin IX triplet state lifetime technique (PpIX-TSLT). It is the first practical way to clinically measure oxygen availability and consumption where oxygen is needed: in the tissue cells rather than in the blood. It uses the oxygen dependent duration of the `glow-in-the-dark` of the precursor to heme. This protoporphyrin IX is metabolized in epidermal mitochondria after local priming with aminolevulinic acid used in photodynamic therapy or diagnosis.
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The signal therefore originates only in active mitochondria and reflects the balance between oxygen supply and demand. The COMET's skin sensor collects a signal from several square millimeters of epidermis, providing an average value for the different cells. In a preclinical trial the oxygenation of cells in the gut has been measured with an endoscopic sensor. Ultimately, interstitial probes, even imaging, should be feasible with this technology. Oxygen should be measured where it is needed so doctors can treat what matters.
Editors of Anesthesiology summarized a publication of research results with a prototype of the COMET and wrote that directly measuring tissue oxygenation 'would be a major advance for perioperative medicine.' O'Brien and Schmidt wrote in a separate editorial for Anesthesiology (July 2016): 'A reliable measure of oxygen tension at the level of the mitochondria might significantly refine transfusion practice... Indeed, any clinical scenario where cellular oxygenation might be compromised could potentially benefit... If mitochondrial PO2 can be measured reliably in humans, the potential value of this technique is hard to overestimate.'