A transvaginal probe for near infrared spectroscopic monitoring of the bladder detrusor muscle and urethral sphincter

The majority of in vivo applications of near infrared spectroscopic (NIRS) monitoring use transcutaneous optode placement over the tissue of interest. Invasive application of optodes is occasionally described for monitoring tissue too deep for transcutaneous study, principally in animal models, but sometimes in humans. Invasive fibre-optic probes have been developed for a range of other spectroscopic applications including some in vivo. We describe the design and feasibility testing in a human subject of a vaginal probe to extend the scope of recently developed techniques for NIRS monitoring in urology.