Spectral dependence of absorption sensitivity on concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin: pulse oximetry implications.

The sensitivity analysis indicates that the effective absorption coefficient is most sensitive to the concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin in spectral bands centered at 700 and 960 nm. We find that the highest temporal modulation due to heart function for a thick sample, like an arm, is at 940 nm, a significant shift from 710 nm measured for a finger. The most favorable spectral region for a thick transmission sample, such as a forearm, is the domain defined by intervals [900  nm ≤ λ₁ ≤ 1000  nm] and [650 nm ≤ λ₂ ≤ 720  nm]. We evaluated five near-infrared light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for their potential applications in oximetry. The LED with peak emission at 930 nm emits well in this spectral region. Here the temporal noise is low, and the effective absorption coefficient is strongly dependent on the concentration of the oxygenated hemoglobin. High-quality saturation results are obtained through the forearm during a short measurement (30 s).