CORRELATION BETWEEN BLOOD-GLUCOSE CONCENTRATION IN DIABETICS AND NONINVASIVELY MEASURED TISSUE OPTICAL-SCATTERING COEFFICIENT

Diabetics would benefit greatly from a device capable of providing con tinuous noninvasive monitoring of their blood glucose levels. The opti cal scattering coefficient of tissue depends on the concentration of g lucose in the extracellular fluid. A feasibility study was performed t o evaluate the sensitivity of the tissue reduced scattering coefficien t in response to step changes in the blood glucose levels of diabetic volunteers. Estimates of the scattering coefficient were based on meas urements of the diffuse reflectance on the skin at distances of 1-10 m m from a point source. A correlation was observed between step changes in blood glucose concentration and tissue reduced scattering coeffici ent in 30 out of 41 subjects measured. (C) 1997 Optical Society of Ame rica