Establishing the feasibility and reliability of broadband absorption spectroscopy for measuring cerebral water content in adults.

Abstract

Broadband absorption spectroscopy (BAS) has the potential to fill an unmet need for a non-invasive monitor of cerebral edema. In this work, we demonstrated the feasibility of BAS to measure water content in the adult human head by quantifying measurement reliability and the influence of ambient light on BAS-measured parameters. We observed strong inter-operator reliability of BAS-measurement of water (R² = 0.69, Lin's CCC = 0.78, p < 0.01). Similar significant reliability was observed for lipid (R² = 0.54), oxygen saturation (R² = 0.81), and total hemoglobin (R² = 0.44). Ambient light increased water content by approximately 2-3% compared to dark conditions.