Data Acquisition and Information Processing in MDO Oxygen Electrode Measurement of Tissue Oxygen Pressure

Abstract

Clark presented the principle for the modern, membrane-covered O2 electrode, comprising the anode and the cathode within the same unit. A further development was the MDO (Mehrdraht Dortmund Oberflache) O2 electrode presented by Lubbers and Kessler. This electrode comprises 8 separate measuring points for collecting statistical samples to calculate tissue O2 pressure fields. In order to perform studies on humans and to enable fast presentation of measurement results, a system was developed including a PDP 11/03 D computer, which fulfills patient safety demands. The computer program included corrections for electrode drift and temperature influences, as well as statistical calculations including mean, SD, skewness and kurtosis. Also included was the 2-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for comparisons of tissue O2 distributions. Experience from studies on humans has shown that the measurement system enabled collection and reading of important patient data directly at the bedside in the intensive care ward.