Measuring Glucose with Lasers

Feb-11-16 A laser-based system for checking blood glucose levels could offer diabetics yet another alternative to daily finger-pricks.

Developed by a team from Tohoku University, the system is an evolution of the previous non-invasive methods that use near- and mid-infrared light to measure the amount of glucose present in the blood. While it is true that the glucose in blood absorbs the light at specific wavelengths, allowing the amount of glucose to be inferred, the light is also absorbed by water, protein and hemoglobin—reducing the accuracy of the method.

The new system relies on far infrared light, which the team claims provides extremely high levels of accuracy. Previously, this method has been limited by the fact that far-infrared light only penetrate a few microns below the surface of the skin. However, the team overcame that obstacle by radiating the infrared light using a small attached to the tips of flexible, hollow optical fibers. When the device was applied to the mucous membrane on the inside of the mouth, the system was able to measure blood glucose levels with a margin of error of less than 20 percent.

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[GIZMAG.COM]
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