Is Raman the best strategy towards the development of non-invasive continuous glucose monitoring devices for diabetes management?

Abstract

Diabetes has no well-established cure; thus, its management is critical for avoiding severe health complications involving multiple organs. This requires frequent glycaemia monitoring, and the gold standards for this are fingerstick tests. During the last decades, several blood-withdrawal-free platforms have been being studied to replace this test and to improve significantly the quality of life of people with diabetes (PWD). Devices estimating glycaemia level targeting blood or biofluids such as tears, saliva, breath and sweat, are gaining attention; however, most are not reliable, user-friendly and/or cheap. Given the complexity of the topic and the rise of diabetes, a careful analysis is essential to track scientific and industrial progresses in developing diabetes management systems. Here, we summarize the emerging blood glucose level (BGL) measurement methods and report some examples of devices which have been under development in the last decades, discussing the reasons for them not reaching the market or not being really non-invasive and continuous. After discussing more in depth the history of Raman spectroscopy-based researches and devices for BGL measurements, we will examine if this technique could have the potential for the development of a user-friendly, miniaturized, non-invasive and continuous blood glucose-monitoring device, which can operate reliably, without inter-patient variability, over sustained periods.

Accurate Post-Calibration Predictions for Noninvasive Glucose Measurements in People Using Confocal Raman Spectroscopy

“…The glucose sensor is still in development, and our focus is on further miniaturization, further improvement of accuracy, extended calibration stability, and a reduced calibration scheme. As a final remark in relation to the ever-present discussion of the beginning of the non-invasive era in diabetes management, it is interesting to note that the presented results convincingly corroborate with a recent review that foresees Raman spectroscopy to be the most promising technology for non-invasive glucose monitoring …”

“…As a final remark in relation to the ever-present discussion of the beginning of the noninvasive era in diabetes management, it is interesting to note that the presented results convincingly corroborate with a recent review that foresees Raman spectroscopy to be the most promising technology for non-invasive glucose monitoring. 28 ■ MATERIALS AND METHODS Instrumentation. The spectral acquisition was performed using a custom-built confocal Raman setup of external dimensions of 168 mm (l) × 130 mm (w) × 62 mm (h).…”

“…As a final remark in relation to the ever-present discussion of the beginning of the non-invasive era in diabetes management, it is interesting to note that the presented results convincingly corroborate with a recent review that foresees Raman spectroscopy to be the most promising technology for non-invasive glucose monitoring. 28 …”

Review of Noninvasive Continuous Glucose Monitoring in Diabetics

“…As a result, a detector with higher sensitivity is required or the electrode surface is coarsened to obtain surface-enhanced Raman scattering spectra. Todaro et al believed that Raman spectroscopy is desirable in the daily management of diabetes, and the self-monitoring blood glucose device based on Raman spectroscopy was one of the best user-friendly devices for noninvasive CGM (Figure iv) . Based on the development of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), Raman spectrometers have been miniaturized and portable.…”

“…Todaro et al believed that Raman spectroscopy is desirable in the daily management of diabetes, and the self-monitoring blood glucose device based on Raman spectroscopy was one of the best user-friendly devices for noninvasive CGM (Figure 3iv). 14 Based on the development of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), Raman spectrometers have been miniaturized and portable. These miniaturized devices used compact lasers, optics, and detectors 99 to measure blood glucose levels in real-time onsite at home or in healthcare institutions.…”