A More Accurate Measurement

Bioengineering Associate Professor George Alexandrakis is part of a team that has developed a new noninvasive technology that may improve the real-time monitoring of key blood parameters like hemoglobin, especially in Black patients.

Current noninvasive spectroscopic methods have a high degree of variability and often are inaccurate in people of color due to differences in skin melanin. New technology created by Dr. Alexandrakis and his team uses the spectroscopic properties of hemoglobin in the blue-green light spectra, as opposed to the red-infrared spectra currently used in similar devices. It is easy to use and features a probe that is placed on the skin and measures its reflected light.

The researchers evaluated the device in more than 30 participants, comparing the hemoglobin values it measured to those collected by extant point-of-care devices and by standard blood tests. Preliminary results suggest the new device can estimate hemoglobin with better accuracy and consistency than currently available comparable methods.