New Optical Sensor System Measures Dehydration

Bodkin Design and Engineering LLC (Newton, MA) has developed a beta prototype using biomedical sensors to provide a more-objective method for monitoring capillary refill time. This common method for measuring blood flow is commonly performed by pinching and releasing a patient's fingertip and observing the time it takes for the blood to refill. The longer the refill time, the more dehydrated the patient. Based on a cathode ray tube, the new instrument uses an optical sensor and computer to objectively measure this effect.

The beta prototype was developed in conjunction with a project at Boston Children's Hospital led by Vassillios Bezzerides, the inventor of the device. Bodkin Design provided the technology in order to collect clinical trial data.

"The assessment of dehydration in young children currently depends on clinical judgment, which is susceptible to errors," explains Andrew Bodkin, president of Bodkin Design. In addition to providing a means for measuring dehydration in infants, the technology can be used to monitor dehydration in athletes, the elderly, and impaired patients who cannot inform caregivers that they are dehydrated.