Noninvasive real-time total hemoglobin measurement utilizing inexpensive liquid c

描述（由申请人提供）：作为贫血的快速筛查技术，医生可以拉下下眼睑，检查眼睑内侧的颜色，称为眼睑结膜。虽然眼睑结膜的定性检查已被证明在诊断贫血时是不准确的，但当使用光谱定量分析时，眼睑结膜是测量血红蛋白和其他血液成分的绝佳接入点。利用漫反射光谱学，专门检查眼睑结膜的特定可见光吸收，我们的团队已经证明，在一个小型的初步研究中，总血红蛋白水平可以无创地测量。用低功率宽带白光光源照射结膜，收集漫反射光，分析反射信号计算血红蛋白浓度。虽然我们对该技术准确性的概念验证研究使用了商用光栅光谱仪，但液晶（LC）滤波技术（我们团队的核心竞争力之一）可以与单个光电二极管探测器结合使用，以制造超紧凑且廉价的微芯片光谱仪。所使用的液晶材料的特定配置，铁电液晶，已经显示出在该范围内带宽<25nm的全光谱可调谐陷波滤波器。将白光LED作为照射源耦合到微芯片光谱仪中，可以制造出功能齐全的光谱设备，用于收集结膜漫反射光谱，计算血红蛋白浓度，并可靠地诊断贫血。检查的简单性，明确地拉下下眼睑以暴露眼睑结膜，并将传感器举到暴露区域进行测量，使该设备能够在许多环境中被广泛的医疗保健提供者使用。该设备的简单性可以使血红蛋白浓度筛选成为一种新的生命体征，就像脉搏血氧仪使氧饱和度测量一样。这里提出的项目包括(1)商用光谱设备的临床试验，以证明技术的准确性；(2)与商用仪器和侵入性血液检测相比，制造微型光谱仪的临床试验，以证明设备的操作、准确性和可重复性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): As a rapid screening technique for anemia, physicians can pull down the lower eyelid and examine the color of the inside lining of the eyelid, called the palpebral conjunctiva. While a qualitative inspection of the palpebral conjunctiva has been shown to be inaccurate in diagnosing anemia, the palpebral conjunctiva is an excellent access point to measure hemoglobin and other blood constituents when analyzed quantitatively using spectroscopy. Using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, specifically examining the specific visible light absorbance at the palpebral conjunctiva, our team has shown that total hemoglobin levels can be measured noninvasively in a small initial study. The conjunctiva is illuminated with a low power broadband white light source, the diffusely reflected light is collected, and the reflectance signal is analyzed to calculate hemoglobin concentration. While our proof of concept studies on the accuracy of this technique used a commercial grating based spectrometer, liquid crystal (LC) filter technology, one the core competencies of our team, can be used in conjunction with a single photodiode detector to manufacture an ultra-compact and inexpensive microchip spectrometer. The specific configuration of the liquid crystal material to be used, ferroelectric liquid crystal, has shown a full spectrum tunable notch filter with bandwidth <25nm across this regime. Coupling a white LED as an irradiation source into the microchip spectrometer can allow for the fabrication of a fully functional spectroscopic device used to collect the diffuse reflectance spectra from the conjunctiva, calculate hemoglobin concentration, and reliably diagnose anemia. The simplicity of the examination, explicitly pulling down the lower eyelid to expose the palpebral conjunctiva and holding the sensor up to the exposed area to make a measurement, enable this device to be used by a wide array of healthcare providers in numerous environments. The simplicity of this device can enable hemoglobin concentration screening to become a new vital sign in the same fashion the pulse oximeter enabled oxygen saturation measurement. The proposed project here involves (1) the clinical trial of commercial spectroscopic equipment to demonstrate technique accuracy and (2) the clinical trial of fabricated microspectrometer to demonstrate device operation, accuracy, and repeatability compared to commercial instrumentation and invasive blood testing.