Catheter tip fluorescense-quenching fiber optic pressure sensor

摘要

A fiber optic pressure sensor suitable for use in measuring, for example, arterial blood pressure, is taught. A catheter tip is formed utilizing the phenomena of collision quenching or Foerster energy transfer quenching of fluorescence in order to measure the pressure exerted by the medium in which the sensors are placed. When utilizing a collision-quenching type of sensor, the change in concentration of a quencher is measured, the quencher being enclosed in the sensor tip, which is in hydrodynamic equilibrium with its ambient environment. Foerster-quenching type sensors measure the change in distance between the quencher and the fluorophore, which in turn are caused by pressure changes caused by the ambient environment in which the sensor is placed.