Goodbye finger pricks? Diabetic patients could monitor their glucose with light waves.
A new non-invasive blood sugar monitoring system could allow people with diabetes to finally ditch painful finger pricks and sensors under the skin. Although the current iteration is relatively large, MIT scientists write in the journal Analytical chemistry say they are on track to narrow down their invention. In time, their light-based approach could even scale to a watch-sized device.
Managing diabetes requires a person to monitor their glucose levels regularly. For decades, this almost always required multiple daily finger pricks to obtain blood samples. Even though wearable glucose monitors have gained popularity in recent years, they still have their own problems. These types of wearable devices provide constant analysis via interstitial fluid, but only after inserting a sensor wire under the skin. Even then, wearers must replace their sensors every 10 to 15 days, and they still frequently cause irritation.
“No one wants to prick their finger every day, multiple times a day,” Jeon Woong Kang, a researcher at MIT and co-author of the study, said in a statement, adding that this problem goes beyond a person’s pain tolerance. “Understandably, many diabetic patients do not measure their blood sugar levels sufficiently, which can lead to serious complications. »
For this new way to monitor blood sugar without pinpricks, Kang and his colleagues draw on research dating back more than 15 years. Biomedical engineers at the MIT Laser Biomedical Research Center (LBRC) first demonstrated that they could non-invasively calculate glucose levels in 2010 using Raman spectroscopy, a technique that uses light particles to examine and identify molecules. In this case, scientists used a device that projected near-infrared and visible light onto organic tissue. They then compared the resulting signals from Raman waves bouncing off the interstitial fluid of skin cells to baseline glucose levels. Although accurate, the method was not practical for daily use.
The possibility of exploiting Raman signals became much more viable after the researchers devised a solution to their problem. In 2020, the LBRC announced that it could identify glucose signals by simultaneously emitting Raman signals onto tissues while Also emitting near infrared light at a different angle. This approach filtered signals from unrelated skin molecules, allowing engineers to locate and monitor glucose information.
Although the original Raman glucometer was about the size of a printer, they have since shrunk the entire device to the proportions of a shoebox. To do this, they identified only the Raman bands necessary for measuring blood glucose.
“By refraining from acquiring the entire spectrum, which contains a lot of redundant information, we go down to three bands selected from around 1,000,” explained researcher and study co-author Arianna Bresci. “With this new approach, we can modify components commonly used in Raman-based devices and save space, time and costs. »
Each measurement analysis takes just over 30 seconds. The device also has accuracy comparable to that of two commercially available portable glucometers.
“If we can make a non-invasive glucometer with high accuracy, then almost everyone with diabetes will benefit from this new technology,” Kang said.
As they continue to scale down their Raman glucose scanner, researchers will also focus on additional clinical testing and larger studies to ensure the technology’s feasibility, as well as its ability to scan all skin tones.
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