A Portable Laser Urine Glucose Meter – a Preliminary Investigation

Abstract

The most common method of detection/monitoring Diabetic Meletus (DM) is to draw capillary blood and measure pre-prandial or post- prandial glucose level. In addition, HbA1c is often done to measure glycated red blood cell (RBC) to monitor glucose level in blood over a certain period time (about 2 – 3 months). In any case, drawing blood is the only procedure to measure glucose in circulating fluid, blood. It is minimally invasive procedure and with some level of pain and discomfort. Yet, it is indeed an ordeal process of sharp needle pricking the tissue for repeated monitoring, particularly for those who have been diagnosed with Type 1DM and have to maintain strict control, The minor discomfort becomes an issue for old persons, infants and juvenile (of Type 1DM). If there could be a procedure and reliable technique to measure and monitor glucose in urine, the whole population of DM, will heave a sigh of relief. Also, if glucose level in urine, for borderline cases could be identified, this will be a major step for mass screening, more importantly for poor villagers of many Asian and African countries. The purpose of this research is to device a portable laser spectrometer for monitoring glucose concentration in urine. It is a preliminary study, done as a proof of concept, to explore the possibilities of reliable, alternative for DM detection technique.