Open-source FlexNIRS: A low-cost, wireless and wearable cerebral health tracker
Kuan-Cheng Wu,
Davide Tamborini,
Marco Renna,
Adriano Peruch,
Yujing Huang,
Alyssa Martin,
Kutlu Kaya,
Zachary Starkweather,
Alexander I. Zavriyev,
Stefan A. Carp,
David H. Salat,
Maria Angela Franceschini
Affiliations
Kuan-Cheng Wu
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 44 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Corresponding author at: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 44 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Davide Tamborini
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
Marco Renna
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
Adriano Peruch
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
Yujing Huang
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
Alyssa Martin
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
Kutlu Kaya
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
Zachary Starkweather
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
Alexander I. Zavriyev
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
Stefan A. Carp
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
David H. Salat
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
Maria Angela Franceschini
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
Currently, there is great interest in making neuroimaging widely accessible and thus expanding the sampling population for better understanding and preventing diseases. The use of wearable health devices has skyrocketed in recent years, allowing continuous assessment of physiological parameters in patients and research cohorts. While most health wearables monitor the heart, lungs and skeletal muscles, devices targeting the brain are currently lacking. To promote brain health in the general population, we developed a novel, low-cost wireless cerebral oximeter called FlexNIRS. The device has 4 LEDs and 3 photodiode detectors arranged in a symmetric geometry, which allows for a self-calibrated multi-distance method to recover cerebral hemoglobin oxygenation (SO2) at a rate of 100 Hz. The device is powered by a rechargeable battery and uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for wireless communication. We developed an Android application for portable data collection and real-time analysis and display. Characterization tests in phantoms and human participants show very low noise (noise-equivalent power <70 fW/√Hz) and robustness of SO2 quantification in vivo. The estimated cost is on the order of $50/unit for 1000 units, and our goal is to share the device with the research community following an open-source model. The low cost, ease-of-use, smart-phone readiness, accurate SO2 quantification, real time data quality feedback, and long battery life make prolonged monitoring feasible in low resource settings, including typically medically underserved communities, and enable new community and telehealth applications.
