SBIR Phase I: Non-Invasive Optical Analyzer for Medical Applications

这项小型企业创新研究第一阶段研究项目将确定用于医疗应用的低成本光学CO2同位素比率计的性能和操作规格。呼吸二氧化碳中的碳同位素比值允许对多种病理进行无创诊断和治疗监测。虽然CO2呼吸测试在医学界被普遍接受，但其广泛应用受到便携式，具有成本效益，高度准确和可靠的传感器的可用性的阻碍。这种简单、紧凑的光学仪器不仅可以在医疗中心，还可以在医生办公室和病人家中进行定量二氧化碳呼吸测试。这种新型的汽水罐大小的传感器可以在几秒钟内以亚毫微米的精度测定未经处理的呼吸中的碳同位素比率。该研究项目将使呼吸分析作为一种医学诊断和监测工具得到广泛应用，对社会产生广泛影响。这种无创、对患者友好且广泛适用的医疗方法将提高医院、医生办公室和家庭对患者的护理质量。除了生物医学应用之外，基本的传感器技术还可以扩展到空气样本中的二氧化碳同位素测量。这些同位素比率计在研究自然丰度变化的地球化学、环境和生态研究中具有重要意义。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I research project will determine the performance and operating specifications for a low-cost optical CO2 isotope ratiometer for medical applications. The carbon isotope ratio in breath CO2 allows non-invasive diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of multiple pathologies. Although CO2 breath tests are generally accepted in the medical community, their widespread application is hampered by the availability of portable, cost-effective, highly accurate and reliable sensors. The proposed simple, compact optical-based instrument will allow extension of quantitative CO2 breath tests not only at medical centers but also to doctors' offices and in patients' homes. This new soda-can-sized sensor will allow determination of the carbon isotope ratio in untreated breath with sub-per-mil precision in a few seconds.This research project will have a broad impact on society by enabling widespread distribution of breath analysis as a medical diagnostic and monitoring tool. This noninvasive, patient friendly and broadly applicable medical method will improve the quality of patient care in hospitals, doctor's offices and at home. In addition to biomedical applications the basic sensor technology can be extended to carbon dioxide isotope measurements in air samples. These isotope ratiometers have importance in geo-chemical, environmental, and ecological studies where variations in natural abundance are studied.