NON-INVASIVE OPTOMETRIC DEVICE FOR DETECTING DIABETES

NON-INVASIVE OPTOMETRIC DEVICE FOR DETECTING DIABETES

UCLA Technology Available For Licensing

BACKGROUND: The number of people with diabetes worldwide has tripled between 1985 and 2003. In the United States, more than 18 million people (or 7% of the population) were afflicted with diabetes in 2002. One third of which remain undiagnosed. The medical complications associated with diabetes are very serious and unfortunately common. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, and lower limb amputation. The cost of diabetes on the US health care system alone was estimated at more than $132 billion in 2002. Current tests for diabetes include the Fasting Plasma Glucose (FPG) test and Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT). These tests are time consuming, invasive, require overnight fasting and long seating time, and are not practical for routine screening.

INNOVATION: UCLA researchers have created a fast, low-cost, and non-invasive approach for diagnosing diabetes. The technology takes advantage of protein cross-linking that occurs in the skin of diabetic individuals. An optometric device is used to measure skin fluorescence from the cross-linked proteins, which does not occur in healthy or treated patients.

POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS

The optometric device can be used to diagnose diabetes.
It can also be used to monitor the treatment and effects of diabetes on tissues.
The device can also be used to monitor fluorescence from analyte sensors embedded in the human body, under the skin for example.

ADVANTAGES

This optometric diagnostic device provides several advantages over the current FPG and OGTT, including:
- low-cost
- non-invasive
- no fasting required
- easy to operate for routine check up
The device uses low power and non-ionizing radiation, and accommodates patient movement.

Selected Paper

Katika KM, Pilon L. Appl Opt. 2006 Jun 10;45(17):4174-83. (Link)

Reference: UCLA Case No. 2004-658 Patent Application: WO 2006/009906

For additional technical details and current licensing
availability, please contact the following UCLA office:

UCLA Office of Intellectual Property

11000 Kinross Avenue, Suite #200

Los Angeles, CA 90095-7231

Tel: 310-794-0558 Fax: 310-794-0638

email: ncd@research.ucla.edu

NCD URL: http://www.research.ucla.edu/tech/ucla04-658.htm

UCLA Technologies Available for Licensing
http://www.research.ucla.edu/oipa/industry

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