ELECTRO-OPTICAL DEVICE AND METHOD FOR MONITORING SINGLET OXYGEN PRODUCED PHOTORADIATION USING PULSED EXCITATION AND TIME DOMAIN SIGNAL PROCESSING

摘要

A method and apparatus is disclosed for optically monitoring the concentration of singlet oxygen produced during photoradiation. A composite optical emission in the 1.27 micron frequency band is detected and electrically processed to separate a first component due to the decay of singlet oxygen from a second unwanted component due to the fluorescence of the photosensitizing dye. A pulsed excitation source is used to excite the photosensitizing dye and a time domain signal processor, such as a box-car integrator, is used to separate and process the singlet oxygen emission component in the time domain. The magnitude and/or other characteristics of the singlet oxygen emission component can be used to determine properties of complex biological or other media. In a therapeutic environment the magnitude and/or other characteristics of the singlet oxygen emission can be used by the treating physician to set a therapeutic light dosimetry.