Surgery – Diagnostic testing – Measuring or detecting nonradioactive constituent of body...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-22
2002-08-06
Winakur, Eric F. (Department: 3736)
Surgery
Diagnostic testing
Measuring or detecting nonradioactive constituent of body...
C600S322000, C600S365000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06430424
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention involves a non-invasive glucose measurement device and a process for determining blood glucose level in the human body using the device. In typical operation, the glucose measurement device is self-normalizing in that it does not employ an independent reference sample in its operation. The inventive device uses attenuated total reflection (ATR) infrared spectroscopy. Preferably, the device is used on a fingertip or other part of the body. Although the inventive procedure preferably compares two specific regions of a measured mid-infrared spectrum to determine the blood glucose level of the user. Clearly, this device is especially suitable for monitoring glucose levels in the human body, and is especially beneficial to users having diabetes mellitus. The device and procedure may be used for other materials which exhibit unique mid-IR signatures of the type described below and that are found in appropriate regions of the outer skin. A cleaning kit and related procedure for preparation of the skin surface is also included.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The American Diabetes Association reports that nearly 6% of the population in the United States, a group of 16 million people, has diabetes. The Association further reports that diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, contributing to nearly 200,000 deaths per year. Diabetes is a chronic disease having no cure. The complications of the disease include blindness, kidney disease, nerve disease, and heart disease, perhaps with stroke. Diabetes is said to be the leading cause of new cases of blindness in individuals in the range of ages between 20 and 74; from 12,000-24,000 people per year lose their sight because of diabetes. Diabetes is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease, accounting for nearly 40% of new cases. Nearly 60-70% of people with diabetes have mild to severe forms of diabetic nerve damage which, in severe forms, can lead to lower limb amputations. People with diabetes are 2-4 times more likely to have heart disease and to suffer strokes.
Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone needed to convert sugar, starches, and the like into energy. Although the cause of diabetes is not completely understood, genetics, environmental factors, and viral causes have been partially identified.
There are two major types of diabetes: Type I and Type II. Type I diabetes (formerly known as juvenile diabetes) is an autoimmune disease in which the body does not produce any insulin and most often occurs in young adults and children. People with Type I diabetes must take daily insulin injections to stay alive.
Type II diabetes is a metabolic disorder resulting from the body's inability to make enough, or properly to use, insulin. Type II diabetes accounts for 90-95% of diabetes. In the United States, Type II diabetes is nearing epidemic proportions, principally due to an increased number of older Americans and a greater prevalence of obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.
Insulin, in simple terms, is the hormone that unlocks the cells of the body, allowing glucose to enter those cells and feed them. Since, in diabetics, glucose cannot enter the cells, the glucose builds up in the blood and the body's cells literally starve to death.
Diabetics having Type I diabetes typically are required to self-administer insulin using, e.g., a syringe or a pin with needle and cartridge. Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion via implanted pumps is also available. Insulin itself is typically obtained from pork pancreas or is made chemically identical to human insulin by recombinant DNA technology or by chemical modification of pork insulin. Although there are a variety of different insulins for rapid-, short-, intermediate-, and long-acting forms that may be used variously, separately or mixed in the same syringe, use of insulin for treatment of diabetes is not to be ignored.
It is highly recommended by the medical profession that insulin-using patients practice self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG). Based upon the level of glucose in the blood, individuals may make insulin dosage adjustments before injection. Adjustments are necessary since blood glucose levels vary day to day for a variety of reasons, e.g., exercise, stress, rates of food absorption, types of food, hormonal changes (pregnancy, puberty, etc.) and the like. Despite the importance of SMBG, several studies have found that the proportion of individuals who self-monitor at least once a day significantly declines with age. This decrease is likely due simply to the fact that the typical, most widely used, method of SMBG involves obtaining blood from a finger stick. Many patients consider obtaining blood to be significantly more painful than the self-administration of insulin.
There is a desire for a less invasive method of glucose measurement. Methods exist or are being developed for a minimally invasive glucose monitoring, which use body fluids other than blood (e.g., sweat or saliva), subcutaneous tissue, or blood measured less invasively. Sweat and saliva are relatively easy to obtain, but their glucose concentration appears to lag in time significantly behind that of blood glucose. Measures to increase sweating have been developed and seem to increase the timeliness of the sweat glucose measurement, however.
Subcutaneous glucose measurements seem to lag only a few minutes behind directly measured blood glucose and may actually be a better measurement of the critical values of glucose concentrations in the brain, muscle, and in other tissue. Glucose may be measured by non-invasive or minimally-invasive techniques, such as those making the skin or mucous membranes permeable to glucose or those placing a reporter molecule in the subcutaneous tissue. Needle-type sensors have been improved in accuracy, size, and stability and may be placed in the subcutaneous tissue or peripheral veins to monitor blood glucose with small instruments. See,
“An Overview of Minimally Invasive Technologies”,
Clin. Chem. September 1992; 38(9):1596-1600.
Truly simple, non-invasive methods of measuring glucose are not commercially available.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,169,676 to Kaiser, shows a method for the use of ATR glucose measurement by placing the ATR plate directly against the skin and especially against the tongue. The procedure and device shown there uses a laser and determines the content of glucose in a specific living tissue sample by comparing the IR absorption of the measured material against the absorption of IR in a control solution by use of a reference prism. See, column 5, lines 31 et seq.
Swiss Pat. No. 612,271, to Dr. Nils Kaiser, appears to be the Swiss patent corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,169,676.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,255, to Dahne et al., describes an apparatus for non-invasively measuring the level of glucose in a blood stream or tissues of patients suspected to have diabetes. The method is photometric and uses light in the near-infrared region. Specifically, the procedure uses light in the 1,000 to 2,500 nm range. Dähne's device is jointly made up to two main sections, a light source and a detector section. They may be situated about a body part such as a finger. The desired near-infrared light is achieved by use of filters. The detector section is made up of a light-collecting integrating sphere or half-sphere leading to a means for detecting wavelengths in the near-infrared region. Dähne et al. goes to some lengths teaching away from the use of light in the infrared range having a wavelength greater than about 2.5 micrometers since those wavelengths are strongly absorbed by water and have very little penetration capability into living tissues containing glucose. That light is said not to be “readily useable to analyze body tissue volumes at depths exceeding a few microns or tens of microns.” Further, Dähne et al. specifically indicates that an ATR method which tries to circumvent the adverse consequences of the heat effect by using a total internal reflection techniq
Berman Herbert L.
Roe Jeffrey N.
Kremer Matthew
MedOptix, Inc.
Morrison & Foerster / LLP
Winakur Eric F.
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