VEGA-Vision: Wireless fNIRS with Spatially Resolved Short Separation Approach for Improved SNR

fNIRS2018, Tokyo, Japonya, 5 - 08 Ekim 2018, ss.78

Recent technological trends in fNIRS hardware design focus on improving the

SNR while making the device wireless, affordable and easy to use. To address these issues,

we developed a wireless 8-channel cw-fNIRS system (VEGA-Vision) with short/far

separation detector pairs (1.5/3 cm separation). Measurements were taken from nonsmoking

and smoking individuals during a head-tilt maneuver protocol. Total hemoglobin

(TotHb) changes from resting to head down and from head down to up showed statistically

different values: deviation of delta TotHb down between non-smokers and smokers was 33.2%

(P=0.040) for the right half of brain and 35.4% (P=0.008) for the 4th channel from left end side,

meanwhile deviation of delta TotHb up between non-smokers and smokers was 30.0%

(P=0.040) for the right half of brain and 30.8% (P=0.015) for the 4th channel from left end side.

Results suggest less arterial vasodilation in smokers when compared to non-smokers.

Healthy smooth muscle cells are known to control vasodilation and vasoconstriction by

relaxation and contraction, a mechanism that is somehow impaired in smokers due to

excessive number of smooth muscle cells in the region. Thereby decreased elastic property

is caused by thickening of arterial walls (1). A study done on rats, revealed that chronic

nicotine exposure decreases cerebral blood flow (2). Vasodilation abnormalities of smokers

compared to non-smokers may be also effected by reduced cerebral blood flow, thereby less

arterial wall pressure followed by less vasodilation. We conclude that VEGA-Vision provides

a fast, accurate, affordable and easy-to-use alternative to existing designs ready to be

employed in clinical studies.