Brain metabolism monitoring through CCO measurements using all-fiber-integrated super-continuum source

An apparatus for determining brain functionality of a subject, the apparatus comprising:

• a super-continuum laser configured to generate a pulsed super-continuum emission, the emission having a wavelength range coinciding with at least one of a near infrared (NIR) wavelength range and a short-wave infrared (SWIR) wavelength range, the fiber super-continuum laser having a multi-stage configuration formed of a fiber pre-amplifier stage feeding an optical noise filtering stage feeding a fiber amplifier stage generating the pulsed super-continuum emission;
• a probe having a probe housing fixedly connected to a source fiber configured to receive the pulsed super-continuum emission from the fiber amplifier stage, the probe housing further fixedly connected to a collection fiber configured to receive reflected emission from a tissue region, wherein the probe is configured to apply, according to a measurement protocol and via the source fiber, the super-continuum emission to the tissue region of the subject, the probe further configured to receive the reflected emission from the tissue region via the collection fiber;
• a detector configured to detect the reflected emission and further configured to generate a signal indicative of the detected reflected emission;
• and
• a processor configured to execute machine readable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
• determine, from the signal indicative of the reflected emission, a simultaneous (i) metabolic state of the tissue region from a metabolic chromophore and (ii) an oxygenation state of the tissue region from at least one oxygenation chromophore;
• compare the metabolic state to a previous metabolic state of the tissue region and determine, from the comparison of the metabolic state and previous metabolic state, a trend of the metabolic state;
• compare the oxygenation state to a previous oxygenation state of the tissue region and determining, from the comparison oxygenation state and the previous oxygenation state, a trend of the oxygenation state;
• determine a correlation between the trend of the metabolic state and the trend of the oxygenation state;
• and
• identify a brain functionality of the subject from the determined correlation.