Endovascular Fiber Optic Pressure Sensor: Sensitivity-Enhancing Coating, and Custom Phantom Brain for Sensor Evaluation

Currently, understanding the pressure within an arterial pathway plays a crucial role in various applications. These areas range from the placement of devices like stents within arteries to the detailed analysis of perfusion in specific regions, such as those near a tumor. Therefore, the ability to obtain precise measurements of pressure within arterial segments is of paramount importance. During this thesis, I focused on the analysis of an endovascular pressure sensor based on fiber optics. The approach was divided into three main phases: the first involves hemodynamic simulations aimed at understanding pressure variations within vessels with specific characteristics; the second phase focused on creating a polymer coating on the sensitive part of the optical fiber, with the aim of improving its sensitivity; finally, the third part concerns the development of two models (Phantoms) of brain portions (occipital area) with and without a tumour mass surrounding the blood vessel, in order to study the impact on blood pressure. Following the Phantom development phase, I proceeded with the fiber-optic test phase. At this stage, I carefully evaluated the performance of the endovascular pressure sensor through a series of targeted experiments. The objective is to ensure that the optical fiber is capable of providing accurate and reliable measurements of pressure within the bloodstream, enabling precise and detailed monitoring.