Numerical feasibility analysis of an epidermal glucose sensor based on time-resolved fluorescence

Abstract

This paper presents numerical simulations predicting the time-resolved reflectance and autofluorescence of human skin exposed to a pulse of collimated light at 337 nm and pulse width of 1 ns. Moreover, the feasibility of using an embedded time-resolved fluorescence sensor for monitoring glucose concentration is also studied. Skin is modeled as a multilayer medium with each layer having its own optical properties and fluorophore absorption coefficients, lifetimes and quantum yields. The intensity distributions of excitation and fluorescent light in skin are then determined by solving the transient radiative transfer equation using the modified method of characteristics. In both cases, the fluorophore lifetimes are recovered from the simulated fluorescence decays and compared with the actual lifetimes used in the simulations. It was found that the fluorescence lifetime of the fluorophore contributing the least to the fluorescence signal could not be recovered while the other lifetimes could be recovered within 2.5% of input values. Such simulations could be valuable in interpreting data from time-resolved fluorescence experiments on healthy and diseased tissue as well as in designing and testing the feasibility of various optical sensors for biomedical diagnostics.