Non-Invasive Tissue Glucose-Level Monitoring

Abstract

A non-invasive analyte monitoring instrument has a radiation source for directing excitation radiation to a portion of a surface of a tissue wherein said source emits radiation at a plurality of different wavelengths that excites a target in said tissue causing said target to emit radiation such that the radiation received at the surface provides an analyte level indication of the patient. A radiation detector positioned to receive radiation emitted from the surface wherein said radiation detector is configured to synchronously scan radiation emitted by the target with the excitation radiation. A processing circuit operatively connected to the radiation detector that translates radiation received at the surface to a measurable signal to obtain said analyte level indication, wherein said radiation source comprises a visible light source or an ultraviolet light source and wherein the target is selected from the group consisting of a structural matrix tissue component, a cellular tissue component, a mitochondrial tissue component, a collagen cross link, a pepsin-digestible collagen cross link, a collagenase-digestible collagen cross link, a non-pepsin digestible collagen cross link, an elastin cross link, a tryptophan-containing protein, NADH, FAD, a flavoprotein, and any combination thereof.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A non-invasive analyte monitoring instrument comprising:
 a radiation source for directing excitation radiation to a portion of a surface of a tissue wherein said source emits radiation at a plurality of different wavelengths that excites a target in said tissue causing said target to emit radiation such that the radiation received at the surface provides an analyte level indication of the patient;   a radiation detector positioned to receive radiation emitted from the surface wherein said radiation detector is configured to synchronously scan radiation emitted by the target with the excitation radiation; and   a processing circuit operatively connected to the radiation detector that translates radiation received at the surface to a measurable signal to obtain said analyte level indication, wherein said radiation source comprises a visible light source or an ultraviolet light source,   wherein the target is selected from the group consisting of a structural matrix tissue component, a cellular tissue component, a mitochondrial tissue component, a collagen cross link, a pepsin-digestible collagen cross link, a collagenase-digestible collagen cross link, a non-pepsin digestible collagen cross link, an elastin cross link, a tryptophan-containing protein, NADH, FAD, a flavoprotein, and any combination thereof.