OCT based method for diagnosis and therapy
First Claim
1. A method of characterizing a patient'"'"'s blood glucose concentrations based on optical coherence tomography, the method comprising:
- employing optical coherence tomography to measure light reflected from a patient'"'"'s skin tissue at a plurality of depths;
determining a tissue scattering coefficient for a tissue region based on differences in light reflected at different depths;
detecting micro-oscillations in the tissue scattering coefficient over a time interval; and
relating the micro-oscillations to the patient'"'"'s blood glucose concentrations.
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Abstract
This invention relates to a method of diagnosing or treating a biological subject, such as a person or animal, comprising the steps of subjecting at least a microsample of the subject'"'"'s tissue to a physiological perturbation and measuring the response of the microsample to the perturbation using optical coherence tomography (OCT). In an exemplary embodiment, the concentration of glucose in the microsample is perturbed, as by providing the subject with a high glucose drink, and subsequently monitoring at a high sample rate in a microsample by OCT. Pathology, such as diabetes, can be diagnosed by deviation of the concentration vs. time response over several cells (micro-oscillation) from the micro-oscillation in the cells of a healthy subject. Other applications include diagnosing or treating de-hydration and diseases that cause changes in the osmolyte concentrations and thus the osmotic pressure in the cells in tissue.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A method of characterizing a patient'"'"'s blood glucose concentrations based on optical coherence tomography, the method comprising:
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employing optical coherence tomography to measure light reflected from a patient'"'"'s skin tissue at a plurality of depths; determining a tissue scattering coefficient for a tissue region based on differences in light reflected at different depths; detecting micro-oscillations in the tissue scattering coefficient over a time interval; and relating the micro-oscillations to the patient'"'"'s blood glucose concentrations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification