Abstract—Cyanosis can be detected in a blue-purplish discoloration area commonly around the mucous membranes which are around the lips, fingers and toes. It is one of the respiratory distress' symptoms in newborn babies that can be caused by either the low level of oxygenated blood or poor circulation. Low oxygen saturation in the blood will make the skin and lips appear to be blue since the blood's color changes from bright red to a darker bluish. Babies with cyanosis need urgent assessment and initiation of medical care. Therefore, a systematic and rational approach in identifying cyanosis symptoms are crucial since its occurrence is known to be one of the most difficult situation to be handled in pediatric world. Thus, the early detection of cyanosis symptoms and understanding the physiology of oxygenation in neonates are important to save the babies' lives. The goals of this paper are to introduce a new approach for early cyanosis detection and determination of cyanotic and non-cyanotic skin color based on the actual reflectance spectrum of oxyhemoglobin, (HbO2) and deoxyhemoglobin, (Hb). The actual transmission spectrum and the wavelength of cyanotic and non-cyanotic skin are calculated based on optical properties in each skins' layers. A block diagram is developed to represent the light's pathway in the cyanotic and non-cyanotic skin color and the transfer functions in each block diagram used to describe the relationship between individual layers. Finally, as an objective measure of cyanotic and non-cyanotic skin color, the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) of color space values (L*, a* and b*) are determined. The calculation results reveal that colorimetry assessment can demonstrate the evaluation of cyanosis based on oxygenation level in the blood.

Index Terms—Cyanosis, neonate, modeling, biological database.

N. F. Azmi is with Eindhoven University of Technology, Designed Intelligence group, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. She is also with Faculty of Electronics and Computer Engineering, Computer Engineering Department, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Hang Tuah Jaya, Durian Tunggal, Malacca 76100, Malaysia (email: n.f.b.azmi@tue.nl).
F. Delbressine and L. Feijs are with Eindhoven University of Technology, Designed Intelligence group, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

Cite: N. F. Azmi, F. Delbressine, L. Feijs, "Conceptual Determination and Assessment of Cyanosis," International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 75-83, 2016.