A Soft Sensor for Bleeding Detection in Colonoscopies

Abstract

Colonoscopies allow surgeons to detect common diseases, that is, colorectal cancer, ulcers, and other ailments. However, there is a risk of bleeding in the lower gastrointestinal (GI) tract while maneuvering endoscopes. This may be due to perforations, hemorrhaging, polyps, diverticula, or post‐biopsy complications. Thus, it is essential for the surgeon to be able to detect bleeding at the site and evaluate the severity of blood leakage. Herein, a soft sensor that can detect the presence of blood at the bleeding site during colonoscopies is presented. The sensor consists of optical waveguides that interface with a microfluidic channel. Blood flow causes absorption and scattering of incident light that can be picked up by the optical sensing apparatus via light transmission through the waveguide. The surgeon can be alerted when bleeding occurs through a graphical user interface. The device is compact and measures only 1 mm thick. This allows the sensor to be circumferentially mounted onto a colonoscope at different locations. The sensor is able to record the presence of blood as an optical loss, rapidly detect the presence of blood under 100 ms as it enters the microchannel, and differentiate between gastric fluid and blood through changes in measured optical loss.

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Material informed robotics - spectral perception for object identification and parameter inference

“…[137] explored the optimization of dissolved reflective polymers to maximize light transmission. [138] used a u-shaped waveguide with a small gap to optically measure blood concentration as a function of signal loss. Although these waveguides provide coarse estimates of the object shape and size, or the presence of an impeding material, they fail to understand the underlying material of the grasped object, as finer textures and composition cannot be differentiated with light intensity alone.…”