| abstract |
A method for quantifying the concentration of hemoglobin in a cell, and indicia of anemia, comprises determining the wavelength of the longitudinal mode of a liquid in a laser microcavity; determining the wavelength of the fundamental transverse mode of a red blood cell in the liquid in the laser microcavity; and determining if the cell is anemic from the difference between the wavelength of the longitudinal mode and the fundamental transverse mode. In addition to measuring hemoglobin, the invention includes a method using intracavity laser spectroscopy to measure the change in spectra as a function of time for measuring the influx of water into a red blood cell and the cell's subsequent rupture. |