The Impact of Motion Artifacts on Transcutaneous Oxygen Measurements

Transcutaneous oxygen monitoring is a noninvasive method of measuring the partial pressure of oxygen permeating through the skin (PtcO
2
). Its medical significance lies in correlating changes in PtcO
2
with alterations in arterial oxygen levels. Luminescent lifetime-based oxygen sensing is suitable for measuring PtcO
2
with miniaturized systems like wearables, where a consistent and reliable signal is crucial for accurate measurements. This study presents the preliminary results of examining the impact of motion artifacts on PtcO
2
measurements based on the luminescent lifetime-based technique. To conduct these tests, a custom wearable PtcO
2
monitor was used, and its onboard accelerometer was calibrated. The study included two human subjects who executed basic forearm movements (lateral and medial rotations and flexion). The pilot tests showed that the luminescent lifetime-based technique is notably resilient against motion artifacts, as the change in lifetime values during motions did not exceed 4%. Importantly, we believe this study is the first in the literature to specifically investigate the impact of motion artifacts on the lifetime-based PtcO
2
measurements through human tests.