Effect of repetitive loading on tissue oxygenation

Abstract

Pressure-induced tissue breakdown is a life-threatening complication for patients with diminished pain sensation and impaired mobility. In clinical situation, patients are encouraged to move regularly to avoid persisted tissue compression. However, there is little information concerning how frequent the act of pressure relief should take place. This study aims to examine the effect of repetitive loading on tissue oxygenation. A total of 14 healthy subjects (age ranged from 21 to 29 with BMI<25) were recruited to participate in this project. Tissue compression was performed by applying a pressure of 150mmHg over the greater trochanter and repeated with a cycle time of 10 minutes for 4 consecutive cycles. The changes in blood oxygenation were monitored using tissue reflectance spectrophotometry. The results indicated that there are no statistical significant differences in tissue oxygenation index (OXI) among the four loading cycles. However it was observed that the lowest OXI percentage change was being found in the second loading episode followed by a gradual decrease in the effect of loading on OXI reduction.