NON-INVASIVE AND MINIMALLY-INVASIVE DETECTION OF SERUM IRON IN REAL TIME
Non-invasive and minimally-invasive detection of serum iron in real time. In a method for detecting serum iron content disclosed herein, the method includes positioning a device relative to a nonpigmented epithelial layer covering capillaries of a mammalian subject, operating the device to obtain optical data relating to the capillaries, and determining serum iron content of blood within the capillaries based upon the optical data.
1 . A method for detecting serum iron content, comprising:
positioning a device relative to a nonpigmented epithelial layer covering capillaries of a mammalian subject;
operating the device to obtain optical data relating to the capillaries; and
determining serum iron content of blood within the capillaries based upon the optical data.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
determining whether or not the mammalian subject is anemic based upon the determined serum iron content.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of operating the device comprises operating a fluorescence spectroscopy device.
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the step of operating the device comprises operating the device to illuminate and acquire a fluorescence emission spectra from the subject.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of operating the device comprises operating an optical fiber probe of the device to illuminate and acquire the fluorescence emission spectra from the subject.
6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of operating the device comprises operating the device to obtain the optical data relating to the presence of zinc protoporphyrin of the blood.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of positioning is performed by positioning the device relative to a lower lip of the mammalian subject.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of operating the device comprises operating a terahertz spectroscopy device.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the step of operating the device comprises operating the device to illuminate and acquire a terahertz emission spectra from the subject.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of operating the device comprises operating an optical fiber probe of the device to illuminate and acquire the terahertz emission spectra from the subject.
11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of operating the device comprises operating the device to obtain the optical data relating to an intensity of the terahertz emission spectra, whereby the intensity corresponds to a concentration of the serum iron content of the blood.
12 . A method for detecting serum iron content, comprising:
obtaining blood from a mammalian subject;
operating a device to excite electrons within the blood and to measure a wavelength of emitted energy during a return of the excited electrons to a ground state; and
determining serum iron content of the blood based upon wavelength of the emitted energy.
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of operating the device comprises operating an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) device.
14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of operating the device comprises operating an inductively coupled plasma atomic optical spectroscopy (ICP-AOS) device.
15 . A method for detecting serum iron content, comprising:
obtaining blood from a mammalian subject;
operating a device to obtain data relating to the blood, the data selected from the group consisting of viscosity data and conductance data; and
determining serum iron content of the blood based upon the obtained data.
16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the step of operating the device comprises operating a device configured to generate a magnetic field while obtaining the viscosity data.
17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the step of operating the device comprises (a) obtaining first viscosity data relating to the blood using a device configured to obtain viscosity data, and (b) obtaining second viscosity data relating to the blood using the device configured to obtain viscosity data while a magnetic field is applied to the blood.
18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the step of determining serum iron content is performed by comparing the first viscosity data to the second viscosity data.
19 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the step of operating the device comprises operating a device configured obtain the conductance data.
20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the obtained data comprises the conductance data, whereby relatively low conductance data is indicative of low serum iron content.