| abstract |
An electro-optical medical instrument is provided for measuring the presence of bilirubin in skin tissue. The instrument is preferably hand-held and self-contained and utilizes a source of flash light to provide sufficient energy in the desired wavelength spectrums. The medical instrument can be automatically activated at a predetermined pressure against a patient's skin to provide a pair of measurement electrical signals. These electrical signals can be processed to provide an output signal representative of the bilirubin value which can be conveniently displayed. |