Abstract
The capability to measure pH is fundamental in many fields ranging from healthcare and agrifood, to chemistry and industrial applications. In medicine, the possibility of in-line and real-time monitoring critical care analytes, such as pH, is recognized to provide relevant information for the diagnosis and treatment of a variety of disorders and would be of considerable support for the management of extracorporeal (blood) circulation (ECC). In this article, we theoretically and experimentally investigate the performances and the robustness of a fluorescent sensor that we recently proposed for the in-line and real-time monitoring of blood pH in ECC. Indeed, being low-cost and biocompatible, the proposed sensor can be advantageously exploited for the in-line and real-time monitoring of the pH of fluids, particularly in applications such as healthcare where safe and low-cost disposables are usually required for all parts which come into contact with the patient. The reported results demonstrate that the proposed sensor allows achieving significant robustness to unevennesses in the production process of the sensing element.
Highlights
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
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, we reported the results obtained by simulating with bovine blood an about 6 h extracorporeal blood circulation (ECC) treatment
Summary
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. PH monitoring is fundamental in many fields ranging from medicine and agri-food, to chemistry and industrial applications [1]–[5]. The acid-base status of critically ill patients is often altered, blood pH is one of the most important parameters to be monitored in the emergency room, recovery room and intensive care unit. The possibility of real-time and in-line monitoring blood pH would be of significant support for the management of extracorporeal blood circulation (ECC). ECC includes a set of different medical procedures in which the patient’s blood flows outside the body for therapies such as blood purification or heart and lungs temporary replacement as in cardiac surgery. Given the interest in blood pH monitoring, many measurement methods and measuring systems have been presented in the literature in the last years i.e. As discussed in more detail in our recent paper [5], nowadays no Manuscript received XXX, XXX; revised XXXX
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