Monitoring the Immune System Noninvasively
December 1, 2015 | Terry Sharrer
Patients undergoing anticancer chemotherapy need frequent blood monitoring to see if the drugs are killing off more white blood cells than tumor cells. A “leukometer,” developed by an international research team, does white blood cell monitoring, much like a pulse oximeter measures blood oxygen levels. “With an array of LEDs and a small lens, the device projects light and gathers images of capillaries just under the surface. As light at certain frequencies is absorbed by the blood’s hemoglobin (a protein that carries oxygen around the body) but not by the white cells, they show up as small transparent particles moving through the capillary.” An algorithm then determines a reading. MORE
Image Credit: Research Laboratory of Electronics/MIT and GizMag.com