Fibre Optic Blood Flow Sensing for Clinical Applications

据世界卫生组织称，心血管疾病和相关的急性心血管事件是发达国家死亡的主要原因。更准确的心血管疾病诊断和有效的治疗可以帮助预防全世界每年数百万人的死亡。一种准确量化冠状动脉血流的方法将极大地改善心血管疾病患者的治疗和监测。如果临床医生能够精确测量血流，就能更好地了解一个人可能患有的疾病，以及冠状动脉内任何阻塞的程度。到目前为止，还没有开发出合适的技术。由于种种原因，多普勒导丝在临床上并不是特别成功。MRI血流量化需要使用MRI扫描仪，这是一种昂贵的成像方式，不适合在手术中使用。x射线透视有不同的结果，这取决于血管的方向，并涉及到电离辐射的使用，这是不希望的。目的和目标MRes项目的总体目标是开发一种使用体积法检测流量的光学传感器。对于我的项目的第一部分，我将对使用光学方法进行流量传感的文献进行回顾，看看在该领域已经做了哪些工作，使用了哪些方法，做了哪些实验。这篇综述将涵盖我的项目所针对的医学应用，以及非医学应用，如工程领域的气体流量传感。我将涵盖这两个领域，因为流量传感背后的原理在这两个领域是相同或相似的，一个领域的发展可以帮助另一个领域。一旦我完成了文献综述，我将开发自己的传感器，用于连续/体积流量的光学检测，我将在实验室自己制作这些传感器。体积流量传感器补充了Elizabeth Carr对时间门控流量的研究，所以我将参与Elizabeth的实验。最初，时间门控流实验将在幽灵中进行，但我们的目标是在实验室的动物体内进行。一旦时间门控流量传感器成功实现，我将继续关注体积流量传感器。我项目的一个关键部分将是为传感器开发新的幽灵和测试范例；这将涉及与临床医生合作，如果我们的技术开发成功，他们有望使用我们的技术。我的项目的最后阶段将是测试在创建的幽灵开发的体积流量传感器。

According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular disease and associated acute cardiovascular events are the leading cause of death in the developed world. More accurate diagnosis and effective treatment of cardiovascular disease could help to prevent millions of deaths worldwide every year. A means to accurately quantify flow in the coronary arteries would greatly improve the treatment and monitoring of people with cardiovascular conditions. If clinicians could get an accurate measurement of the flow, it would give a better picture of the disease a person may have and the level of any obstruction within the coronary arteries. So far, a suitable technique has not been developed. Doppler guide wires have not been particularly successful in the clinic for a variety of reasons. MRI flow quantification requires the use of an MRI scanner, which is an expensive imaging modality and is not practical for use during surgery. X-ray fluoroscopy has varying results depending on the orientation of the vessels and involves the use of ionising radiation, which is undesirable. Aims and ObjectivesThe overall aim of the MRes project is to develop an optical sensor for detecting flow using a volumetric method. For the first part of my project, I will conduct a review of the literature on flow sensing using optical methods, to see what work has already been done in the field, what methods have been used and what experiments have been done. This review will cover both the medical applications that my project is aimed at, as well as the non-medical applications, such as gas flow sensing within engineering fields. I will cover both areas because the principle behind the flow sensing is the same or similar in both cases, and developments in one field could help the other. Once I have completed the literature review, I will be developing sensors of my own, for optical detection of continuous / volumetric flow and I will make these myself in the lab. The volumetric flow sensors complement Elizabeth Carr's research on time-gated flow, so I will be involved in Elizabeth's experiments. Initially, the time-gated flow experiments will be done in phantoms, but then we aim to move in vivo, in animals in the lab. Once the time gated flow sensors have been successfully implemented, I will move on to focus on volumetric flow sensors. A key part of my project will be to develop new phantoms and test paradigms for sensors; this will involve collaborating with the clinicians who will hopefully use our technology, if it is successfully developed. The final stage of my project will be to test the volumetric flow sensors developed in the phantoms created.