A patient is about to undergo a complex surgery. He lies on a white operating table, covered with a sheet, and the medical team begins to prep the incision site and get ready to administer anesthesia — he can see and hear everything, quietly observing the preparations. But when someone clips an earring to his ear, he is taken aback and asks:
— “What’s that for?”
— “That’s the surgical assistant,” they say. “After the operation, when we have more time, we’ll explain everything to you…”
During surgery, it’s crucial to constantly monitor oxygen levels in the patient’s blood to track how the heart is doing. It’s difficult for the surgeon to manage this alone. That’s where the oximeter comes in — a device that includes the earring as one of its components.
Inside the earring is a selenium photodetector and a tiny light bulb that shines through the earlobe. The more oxygen in the blood, the more light passes through the earlobe and the stronger the detector’s signal. If the heart starts to struggle and the blood darkens, the photodetector senses the change and activates a mechanism that increases the oxygen supply to the blood.
With the earring in place, the patient is protected from oxygen deprivation during surgery.
