This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing theresources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject andinvestigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source,and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed isfor the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator.Monitoring of blood glucose at home is critically important in order to optimize glyemic control in patients with diabetes. The currently widely used method is to obtain a drop of whole blood by pricking the finger and analyzing the concentration of glucose in this sample with a reactive strip which develops a color that is read in a reflectance meter. The finger stick itself is often painful and results in soreness in the affected finger tips. This procedure is invasive, inconvenient, and unpleasant for diabetics, often leading to poor patient compliance and inadequate blood glucose monitoring and control. The removal of this daily constraint would considerably improve the quality of life for diabetic patients, facilitate their compliance for glucose monitoring, and reduce complications and morality from the disease. Thus, a noninvasive quantitative method for monitoring blood glucose levels would be of great importance.The long-term objective of our project is to develop and test a novel optical coherence tomographic (OCT)-based sensor for non-invasive, sensitive, accurate, and continuous monitoring of glucose concentration. In the pilot study here, we will evaluate the ability of OCT to monitor changes in glucose and correlate that to glucose concentration in blood in normal volunteers.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 465 publications
