Biomedical Photonics (Feb 2017)
TECHNIQUES OF EVALUATION OF HEMOGLOBIN OXYGEN SATURATION IN CLINICAL OPHTHALMOLOGY
Abstract
Oxygen content in body fluids and tissues is an important indicator of life support functions. A number of ocular pathologies, e.g. glaucoma, are of presumable vascular origin which means altered blood supply and oxygen circulation. Most oxygen is transported in the blood in the association with hemoglobin. When passing through the capillaries, hemoglobin releases oxygen, converting from oxygenated form to deoxygenated form. This process is accompanied by the changes in spectral characteristics of hemoglobin which result in different colors of arterial and venous blood. Photometric technique for the measurement of oxygen saturation in blood is based on the differences in light absorption by different forms of hemoglobin. The measurement of saturation is called oximetry. Pulse oximetry with assessment of tissue oxygenation is the most commonly used method in medicine. The degree of hemoglobin oxygen saturation in the eye blood vessels is the most accessible for noninvasive studies during ophthalmoscopy and informative. Numerous studies showed the importance of this parameter for the diagnosis of retinopathy of various genesis, metabolic status analysis in hyperglycemia, diagnosis and control of treatment of glaucoma and other diseases involving alterations in eye blood supply. The specific method for evaluation of oxygen concentration is the measurement of pressure of oxygen dissolved in the blood, i.e. partial pressure of oxygen. In ophthalmological practice, this parameter is measured in anterior chamber fluid evaluating oxygen level for several ophthalmopathies including different forms of glaucoma, for instillations of hypotensive eye drops as well as in vitreous body near to the optic disc under various levels of intraocular pressure. Currently, monitoring of oxygen saturation in retinal blood vessels, i.e. retinal oximetry, is well developed. This technique is based on the assessment of light absorption by blood depending on hemoglobin saturation with oxygen by analyzing spectral composition of light diffusively reflected from the retina. Oximetry of bulbar conjunctival and episcleral microvasculature can be also performed allowing for the evaluation of oxygen saturation in vessels which collect blood from the anterior segment and the characterization of anterior segment metabolism in a number of ocular pathologies and in the course of the treatment.
