Non-Invasive Detection of Compartment Syndrome Using Radio Frequency Wave

Development of Compartment Syndrome (CS) could affect blood flow to muscles, nerves, and as a result could causes permanent damage to tissues and nerves with risk of amputations and even death. The lack of non-invasive clinical diagnosis of compartment syndrome has led to thousands of permanent nerve and tissue damages. This paper aims to present a novel method, design concept, and numerical realization of non-invasive Radio Frequency (RF) based detection of compartment syndrome. The proposed method uses electromagnetic waves, produced by a small printed antenna at frequency of 300 MHz for identifying compartment syndrome. The effects of compartment syndrome and changes on tissue electrical properties are taken into account, since the ways in which electrical properties differences between normal and injured tissue should aid diagnosis on injured area by RF-wave radiation. We used a numerical leg model to identify inter-compartmental edema size of the lower leg, the most commonly effected area for patients. Because the antenna can be made very small, RF-based detection of compartment syndrome applications can be extended to small-scale devices. Numerical studies show that compartment syndrome as small as 5 ml can be detected with this method. We hope that our novel method will improve both diagnosis and overall patient care for compartment syndrome. Moreover, this detection system is intended to provide a safe, economical, and less distressing method to monitor compartment syndrome.