Calibration of a prototype NIRS oximeter against two commercial devices on a blood-lipid phantom.

In a blood-lipid liquid phantom the prototype near-infrared spectroscopy oximeter OxyPrem was calibrated against the INVOS® 5100c adult sensor in respect to values of regional tissue oxygen haemoglobin saturation (rStO2) for possible inclusion in the randomised clinical trial - SafeBoosC. In addition different commercial NIRS oximeters were compared on changing haemoglobin oxygen saturation and compared against co-oximetry. The best calibration was achieved with a simple offset and a linear scaling of the OxyPrem rStO2 values. The INVOS adult and pediatric sensor gave systematically different values, while the difference between the NIRO® 300 and the two INVOS sensors were magnitude dependent. The co-oximetry proved unreliable on such low haemoglobin and high Intralipid levels.