Detection of Changes in Muscle Oxygen Saturation in the Human Leg: a Comparison of Two Near-infrared Spectroscopy Devices

The purpose of this study was first to evaluate the near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) device, INVOS 4100 as a method of measuring exercise and arterial occlusion induced muscle ischemia in human leg, by comparison with InSpectra tissue spectrometer Model 325, and secondly to determine the influence of skin and subcutaneous thickness on the NIRS measurements. Twenty healthy subjects (43 ± 8 years) volunteered for the study. Tissue oxygen saturation (StO2) in the anterior tibial muscle was measured simultaneously with InSpectra Model 325 in one leg and INVOS 4100 in the contralateral leg during an exercise test until muscle exhaustion and arterial occlusion with and without exercise. The skin and subcutaneous thickness was identified by ultrasound imaging. Baseline StO2 was 87 ± 8 % detected by InSpectra and 76 ± 6 % by INVOS. Both devices detected an immediate decrease of StO2 (p < 0.001) during exercise, arterial occlusion with and without exercise, and a significant post ischemic hyperaemia (p < 0.001) during recovery. There was a significant inverse correlation between skin and subcutaneous thickness and baseline StO2 (r = -0.78, p < 0.01) as well as change in StO2 during exercise (r = -0.65, p = 0.002) for InSpectra, which was not apparent for INVOS. The results demonstrate that the cerebral/somatic oxygenation monitor (INVOS) is able to detect experimentally induced skeletal muscle ischemia in the human leg as well as the peripheral tissue spectrometer (InSpectra). Muscle oxygen saturation measurement by INVOS is less affected by skin and subcutaneous thickness than measured by InSpectra.