5
How does the
Activ8rlives
Pulse Oximeter
Bluetooth 4.0 work?
The
Activ8rlives
Pulse Oximeter
Bluetooth 4.0 is a non-invasive method allowing the
monitoring of the saturation of a haemoglobin in your blood.
A sensor is placed on a thin part of your body, usually a fingertip or earlobe (separate
adapter required).
Light of two wavelengths is passed through the finger (or earlobe) to a
photodetector. The changing absorbance at each of the two wavelengths (600 nm
and 880nm) is measured, allowing determination of the absorbances due to the
pulsing arterial blood alone (the blood flowing from the heart and lungs), and
excludes venous blood (the blood returning to the heart and lungs), skin, bone,
muscle, fat, and in most cases nail polish.
A blood-oxygen monitor displays the percentage of arterial haemaglobin in the
oxyhaemoglobin configuration. Acceptable normal ranges for patients without COPD
with a hypoxic drive problem are from 95-99 percent (%), in those with a hypoxic
drive problem would expect values between 88-94%. Values of 100% can indicate
carbon monoxide poisoning. For a patient breathing room air at sea level, an
estimate of arterial oxygen saturation levels (pO
2
) can be made from the blood-
oxygen monitor SpO
2
reading.
The monitored signal fluctuates in time with the heart beat because the arterial
blood vessels expand and contract with each heart beat. By examining only the
varying part of the absorption spectrum (essentially subtracting minimum absorption
from peak absorption), a monitor can ignore other tissues or nail polish (though black
nail polish tends to distort readings) and discern only the absorption caused by
arterial blood. Detecting a pulse is therefore essential to the operation of the
Activ8rlives
Pulse Oximeter
Bluetooth 4.0 and it will not function if there isn’t one.
Your Pulse Oximeter will therefore give you two important pieces of information:
your oxygen saturation levels and your pulse rate.
If in doubt, contact your Doctor for advice.
