Patent ID: 6615065
Filing Date: 2003-09-02
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
A method for comparative spectrophotometric in vivo monitoring and display of selected blood metabolites present in a plurality of different internal regions of the same test subject on a continuing and substantially concurrent basis, comprising the steps of:applying separate spectrophotometric sensors to a test subject at each of a plurality of separate testing sites and coupling each of said sensors to a control and processing station; operating a selected number of said sensors on a substantially concurrent basis to spectrophotometrically irradiate at least two separate internal regions of the test subject during a common time interval, each of said regions being associated with a different of said testing sites; separately detecting and receiving light energy resulting from said spectrophotometric irradiation for each of said at least two separate internal regions, and conveying separate sets of signals to said control and processing station which correspond to the separately detected light energy from said at least two separate internal regions; separately and concurrently analyzing said conveyed separate sets of signals to separately determine quantified data representative of a blood metabolite in each of said at least two separate internal regions; and concurrently visually displaying said separately determined quantified data for each of said at least two separate internal regions for direct concurrent mutual comparison, wherein said sensors are applied to a head of the test subject and are used to monitor two mutually separate regions within a brain of the test subject.