| abstract |
This invention is a non-invasive method for determining blood level of an analyte of interest, such as glucose, comprising generating an excitation laser beam (10) (e.g., at a wavelength of 700 nanometers to 900 nanometers); focusing (13) the excitation laser beam into the anterior chamber of an eye of the subject so that aqueous humor in the anterior chamber is illuminated; detecting (32) (preferably confocally (22) detecting) a Raman spectrum from the illuminated aqueous humor; and then determining the blood glucose level (or the level of another analyte of interest) for the subject from the Raman spectrum. Preferably, the detecting step is followed by the step of subtracting a confounding fluorescence spectrum from the Raman spectrum to produce a difference spectrum; and determining the blood level of the analyte of interest for the subject from that difference spectrum, preferably using linear or nonlinear multi-variate analysis such as partial least squares analysis. Apparatus for carrying out the foregoing method is also disclosed. |