Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a non-invasive technique which can be used to continuously assess tissue oxygenation in cerebral as well as in muscle tissue.
NIRS has shown promise as a tool to assess tissue oxygenation in a number of settings, including trauma, congestive heart failure and sepsis.
In fact, our increased ability to assess tissue oxygenation clearly implies that measured plasma lactate concentration is only a small window of a much more complicated scenario.
Physiological non-contrast MRI protocols have been developed to assess tissue oxygenation, glomerular filtration, renal perfusion, interstitial diffusion, and inflammation-driven fibrosis in lupus nephritis (LN) patients.
More recently, a device based upon thermal diffusion (HemedexTM) has been approved for post-operative quantification of microvascular perfusion in the liver, but it does not permit direct measurement of blood flow in either the hepatic artery or portal vein nor does it assess tissue oxygenation.
DCE-MRI is a non-invasive technique which can assess tissue perfusion and oxygenation within the tumour microenvironment [ 19].
The resultant diffuse reflection is measured by the photo-detector for each of the applied wavelengths (735, 805, and 940 nm), processed, and used to assess tissue perfusion and oxygenation status.
In this study, we assessed kidney tissue oxygenation in an endotoxemic shock model resuscitated with balanced hydroxyethyl starch Ringer's acetate either with or without supplementation with NAC.
