Fiber Bragg Gratings for Medical Applications and Future Challenges: A Review
Daniela Lo Presti, Carlo Massaroni, Cátia Leitão, M. Fátima Domingues, Marzhan Sypabekova, David Barrera, Ignazio Floris, Luca Massari, Calogero Maria Oddo, Salvador Sales, Iulian Iordachita, Daniele Tosi, Emiliano Schena
Abstract
In the last decades, fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) have become increasingly attractive to medical applications due to their unique properties such as small size, biocompatibility, immunity to electromagnetic interferences, high sensitivity and multiplexing capability. FBGs have been employed in the development of surgical tools, assistive devices, wearables, and biosensors, showing great potentialities for medical uses. This paper reviews the FBG-based measuring systems, their principle of work, and their applications in medicine and healthcare. Particular attention is given to sensing solutions for biomechanics, minimally invasive surgery, physiological monitoring, and medical biosensing. Strengths, weaknesses, open challenges, and future trends are also discussed to highlight how FBGs can meet the demands of next-generation medical devices and healthcare system.