Photonic Technology for In Vivo Monitoring of Hypoxia–Ischemia

Abstract Surveillance of physiological parameters of newborns during delivery triggers medical decision‐making, can rescue life and health, and helps avoid unnecessary cesareans. Here, the development of a photonic technology for monitoring perinatal asphyxia is presented and validated in vivo in a preclinical stage. Contrary to state of the art, the technology provides continuous data in real‐time in a non‐invasive manner. Moreover, the technology does not rely on a single parameter as pH or lactate, instead monitors changes of the entirety of physiological parameters accessible by Raman spectroscopy. By a fiber‐coupled Raman probe that is in controlled contact with the skin of the subject, near‐infrared Raman spectra are measured and analyzed by machine learning algorithms to develop classification models. As a performance benchmarking, various hybrid and non‐hybrid classifiers are tested. In an asphyxia model in newborn pigs, more than 1000 Raman spectra are acquired at three different clinical phases—basal condition, hypoxia–ischemia, and post‐hypoxia–ischemia stage. In this preclinical proof‐of‐concept study, figures of merit reach 90% levels for classifying the clinical phases and demonstrate the power of the technology as an innovative medical tool for diagnosing a perinatal adverse outcome.