On the Development of an Instrument for In-Line and Real-Time Monitoring of Blood-pH in Extracorporeal Circulation

Performances and Robustness of a Fluorescent Sensor for Nearly Neutral pH Measurements in Healthcare

“…The proposed sensing element is based on HPTS (8-Hydroxypyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonic acid trisodium salt) an inexpensive and nontoxic ratiometric pH indicator. The fluorophore is fixed to the polymeric substrate by using anion exchange microbeads and a biocompatible polyurethane hydrogel according to the 6-step production process described in our recent paper [5]. An "out of scale" cross-section of the sensing element is shown in Fig.…”

“…In spite of the long history of pH measurement, many problems are still open and new measuring systems are continuously developed to meet measurement needs. Indeed, pH monitoring is fundamental in many fields ranging from medicine and agri-food, to chemistry and industrial applications [1]- [5]. In healthcare, the acid-base status of critically ill patients is often altered, thus blood pH is one of the most important parameters to be monitored in the emergency room, recovery room and intensive care unit.…”

“…[1], [6]- [14]. However, as discussed in more detail in our recent paper [5], nowadays no measurement method has been able to provide safe, economical, accurate and reliable estimates of pH in the bloodstream to be used routinely during ECC treatments, thus blood pH is generally not monitored during ECC treatments. To overcome all the above limitations, in our recent paper [5], we proposed and described a measuring system composed of a disposable fluorescent sensor and a non-disposable optical-head for the inline and real-time monitoring of blood-pH in extracorporealcirculation (ECC).…”

“…However, as discussed in more detail in our recent paper [5], nowadays no measurement method has been able to provide safe, economical, accurate and reliable estimates of pH in the bloodstream to be used routinely during ECC treatments, thus blood pH is generally not monitored during ECC treatments. To overcome all the above limitations, in our recent paper [5], we proposed and described a measuring system composed of a disposable fluorescent sensor and a non-disposable optical-head for the inline and real-time monitoring of blood-pH in extracorporealcirculation (ECC). In such a paper [5], we described the proposed measuring instrument and measurement method, we report about a preliminary investigation on biocompatibility and, finally, we reported the results obtained by simulating with bovine blood an about 6 h ECC treatment.…”

“…To overcome all the above limitations, in our recent paper [5], we proposed and described a measuring system composed of a disposable fluorescent sensor and a non-disposable optical-head for the inline and real-time monitoring of blood-pH in extracorporealcirculation (ECC). In such a paper [5], we described the proposed measuring instrument and measurement method, we report about a preliminary investigation on biocompatibility and, finally, we reported the results obtained by simulating with bovine blood an about 6 h ECC treatment. In this paper, we investigate and describe the performances and the robustness of the proposed sensor to unevennesses in the production process.…”