Spectrometric content analysis

Abstract

There is provided a urine analysis device for bed side monitoring of a patient, comprising: an inlet sized and shaped for fluid communication with a urine collecting tube that receives urine from a patient; a drip chamber through which the urine flows towards an outlet; at least one sensor that analyzes each drop of urine and estimates a respective volume of each drop; a timing element that measures a reference time for each drop; a program store storing code; and at least one processing unit coupled to the program store for implementing the stored code, the code comprising: code to calculate a urine output flow rate of the urine output flowing through the chamber according to the estimated volume of each drop of the urine and the reference time for each drop; and code to output the urine output flow rate.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A urine analysis device for bed side monitoring of a subject, comprising:
 a drip chamber having an inlet in fluid communication with a urine collecting tube for receiving urine from the subject; and   a detector adapted to sense a light spectrum that passed through at least one drop of urine falling from the inlet, perform a spectral analysis of the light spectrum, and output an indication of at least one urine constituent in the at least one drop of urine.   
     
     
         2 . The urine analysis device of  claim 1 , wherein the light spectrum passes through falling drops of urine, generated from the urine received from the subject and falling from the inlet along the drip chamber. 
     
     
         3 . The urine analysis device of  claim 1 , wherein the detector comprises a multi-element detector comprising a plurality of light detector elements, wherein the multi element detector outputs a signal indicative of the intensity of the received light spectrum as a function of the wavelength of light according to respective light detector elements, wherein the signal is analyzed for obtaining the at least one urine constituent. 
     
     
         4 . The urine analysis device of  claim 1 , further comprising a light source adapted to creates the light directed to pass through the at least one drop of urine. 
     
     
         5 . The urine analysis device of  claim 1 , wherein the light source is a broadband light. 
     
     
         6 . The urine analysis device of  claim 4 , wherein the light source is a tunable light source capable of emitting a narrow band of wavelengths of light which are sequentially directed through the at least one drop. 
     
     
         7 . The urine analysis device of  claim 4 , wherein the light source is a sweeping source that is swept as a function of time. 
     
     
         8 . The urine analysis device of  claim 7 , further comprising a dispersion element adapted to receive a light that passed through at least one drop of urine falling from the inlet, and output the light spectrum, wherein the dispersion element splits the light source to a first portion that is reflected at least by the urine and directed to a sub-set of elements of the detector having multiple detector elements and to a second portion that passes through the urine and directed to another detector having a single detector element. 
     
     
         9 . The urine analysis device of  claim 8 , wherein an osmolarity of the at least one drop of urine is computed according to an analysis of the output of the multiple detector elements and the single detector element. 
     
     
         10 . The urine analysis device of  claim 1 , further comprising an interferometer that includes a tunable source of light capable of emitting a range of wavelengths. 
     
     
         11 . The urine analysis device of  claim 1 , further comprising a beam splitter adapted to splits the light originating from a light source to a reference path and to a path that passes through the at least one drop of urine, and a mechanism adapted to combine the reference path light and the light of the path that passes through the at least one drop of urine into a combined spectral signal. 
     
     
         12 . The urine analysis device of  claim 11 , wherein a concentration of the at least one urine constituent is computed by analyzing the combined spectral signal. 
     
     
         13 . The urine analysis device of  claim 11 , wherein analysis the combined spectral signal comprises removing a reference light signal obtained from the reference path light from the light of the path that passes through the at least one drop of urine. 
     
     
         14 . The urine analysis device of  claim 11 , further comprising a transparent chamber positioned within the drip chamber and arranged to be constantly maintained in a urine filled state, wherein the light of the path through the at least one drop of urine is directed through the transparent chamber. 
     
     
         15 . The urine analysis device of  claim 1 , wherein the indication is of the at least one urine constituent is selected from a group consisting of: a concentration of a respective urine constituent, a presence of the respective urine constituent, urine osmolarity of the respective urine constituent, and urine osmolality of the respective urine constituent. 
     
     
         16 . The urine analysis device of  claim 1 , further comprising a processor adapted to perform the spectral analysis of the light spectrum, and output the indication of at least one urine constituent in the at least one drop of urine, by computing a least square minimization to identify with a corresponding point of a calibration curve, a predefined function and/or template representing empirically derived measurements and/or mathematically calculated estimates based on a model. 
     
     
         17 . The urine analysis device of  claim 1 , further comprising a processor adapted to perform the spectral analysis of the light spectrum, and output respective indications for each one of a plurality of constituents in the at least one drop of urine. 
     
     
         18 . A method of operating a urine analysis device for bed side monitoring of a subject, comprising:
 providing a drip chamber having an inlet in fluid communication with a urine collecting tube for receiving urine from the subject; and   instructing a detector to sense a light spectrum that passed through at least one drop of urine falling from the inlet and output an indication of at least one urine constituent in the at least one drop of urine.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising generating a presentation of an indication of the at least one urine constituent on a graphical user interface (GUI) presented on a display. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising identifying a trend in changes of the at least one urine constituent indicative of acute kidney injury (AKI), and presenting an indication of the detected AKI on a GUI.