A New, Non-Invasive in vivo Optical Blood Glucose Measurement Technique Using Near-Infrared Radiation (“Pulse Glucometry”) and a Proposal for “Pulse Hemo-Photometry” Blood Constituent Measurements
A recently proposed optical method for a non-invasive in vivo blood glucose level (BGL) measurement named “pulse glucometry” is introduced. This method is based on near-infrared living body spectroscopy to accurately obtain blood information. The remarkable feature of the method is the measurement of both the total transmitted radiation spectra in wavelength ? (I?) and the cardiac-related pulsatile component (?I?). When ?I? is superimposed on I?, the differential optical density (?OD?), which includes only arterial blood information, is obtained, thus avoiding interference from living tissues other than arterial blood. Another feature is the ability to measure the differential optical density (?OD?) in multiple wavelengths to avoid interference from blood constituents other than the target blood chemical (glucose). To support this methodology, a very fast near-infrared spectroscopic system was developed to obtain a photoplethysmographic cardiac signal with a resolution of 8 nm over a wavelength range of 900 to 1700 nm at a 100 Hz sampling frequency. An example of an in vivo BGL measurement is shown and indicates good prediction capabilities. This method can be expanded to the measurement of other blood constituents.