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Millions of diabetics undergo regular painful finger pricks to check their blood glucose levels. Relief, however, is at hand owing to a pioneering innovation by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Their newly developed method does away with needles and is a pain-free method to test glucose.
The science behind the breakthrough
The foundation of this non-invasive technology is photoacoustic sensing, a cutting-edge technique that uses laser beams to measure biological tissue's glucose level.
Why this is important? Unlike other blood-glucose-measuring techniques that involve blood testing, photoacoustic sensing analyzes glucose without disturbing the skin surface. This invention may make life much easier and better for diabetics.
Repeated use of needles is not only inconvenient but also poses a risk of infections. To address this, our team has introduced a novel method called photoacoustic sensing, which uses laser beams to measure glucose levels
Dr. Jayaprakash, Assistant Professor in the Department of Instrumentation and Applied Physics, IISc.
Proven accuracy in pilot tests
IISc scientists have successfully performed the technique using water, serum solutions, as well as laboratory samples of animal tissues and accomplished near-clinical precision. They even reported measuring glucose in varying depths inside biological tissue.
If we know the speed of sound in this tissue, we can use the time series data to map our acoustic signals to the depth at which they are coming from. Since sound waves don’t scatter much inside tissue, the researchers were able to get accurate measurements at various tissue depths
Swathi Padmanabhan, a PhD student at the IISc.
Next steps: Towards clinical use
In a pilot study, the investigators tracked blood glucose in a healthy subject before and after meals for three days. The findings were encouraging but required overcoming several hurdles before clinical use.
Finding the right setup to do this experiment was very challenging. Currently, the laser source we use has to generate very small nanosecond pulses, so it is expensive and bulky. We need to make it more compact to put it to clinical use. My lab mates have already started work on this
Swathi Padmanabhan, a PhD student at the IISc.
The existing laser system is costly and bulky. Our immediate aim is to miniaturize the device and make it economically viable for clinical application," observes Padmanabhan. The researchers are already developing the technology further to move it closer to routine clinical applications.
When a laser beam is shined on biological tissue (the outer layer of the skin), the tissue absorbs the light and heats up slightly. This causes the tissue to expand and contract, creating vibrations which can be picked up as ultrasonic sound waves by sensitive detectors. Importantly, this process does not harm the tissue.
Dr. Jaya Prakash, Assistant Professor at IISc’s Department of Instrumentation and Applied Physics
A future without painful wounds?
With ongoing research and development, this painless glucose monitoring method might become a diabetes management game-changer. If it works, millions of patients worldwide may soon be able to use an easy, risk-free option to traditional ways of testing blood sugar levels.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Muhammad Faisal/MSM)
