Method and device for in vivo diagnosis detecting IR emission by body organ

摘要

A sensitive photon detector can be used for external detection in vivo of emission from a body organ, for instance of singlet oxygen emission in the near infrared at 1280 nm, for various purposes such as control of oxygenation of a patient. At such a wavelength bone and overlying tissue are sufficiently transparent to allow detection exteriorly of the body. Stray light and thermal emissions at this wavelength in a lit room are sufficiently low, or can otherwise be controlled, to allow detection of this singlet radiation by for instance a cooled Ge detector, to determine a rate of detected photons. Detection of this radiation can be taken for instance as indicating damage in process from over-oxygenation of a patient, allowing preventing and remedial measures to be taken in oxygen treatment. If a wavelength of interest is absorbed by overlying body tissues, insertion of an optical fiber leading to a detector, or of a detector itself, into the patient's body via a cavity of the body or otherwise can be employed for getting sufficiently close to the organ of interest.