Would you like to stab your finger several times per day every day just to survive? Probably not and yet millions of people with diabetes live like that. Finger pricks are necessary to measure blood glucose levels, but they are also painful or at least uncomfortable. Now scientists found a better way – they designed an AI-based device, which doesn’t need blood samples to measure blood glucose level.
This is how people usually check their blood glucose level.
Scientists at the University of Waterloo created a device, which is similar in size and ease-of-use to currently used glucometers. At the moment it doesn’t resemble a commercially available medical device, because it is just a prototype. It has a rectangular shape and a simple pad for the user’s finger. It sends radio waves through the skin and into blood vessels. Those waves are reflected back into the device, which then processes the signal. AI analyses data and within seconds informs the user whether his blood sugar has gone up, down or remained the same. This device doesn’t present an absolute reading – you would need blood for that – instead it compares current blood sugar levels to the baseline.
People would still need to go to a doctor’s office every few weeks to obtain that baseline reading, which would then be programmed into the device. But daily finger pricks would not be necessary. No implanted sensors, no patches, no chemical reactions and no fluid transfer through the skin – this device is very safe, simple to use and doesn’t cause discomfort. Also, there are no paper strips or other consumables. Scientists are now looking into commercialization of this device and estimate that it would retail for less than $500.
The new blood glucose monitoring device does not require painful pricks and is very easy to use.
Scientists are already looking into improving this concept even further. They would like to make it even smaller, lighter and more streamlined. In this way it could become a wearable device – they see this happening within a couple of years. They are also looking into other functions that this technology could perform. Safieddin Safavi-Naeini, one of the authors of the study, said: “Since many ingredients of blood have distinct electromagnetic properties, the same technology could be extended to other types of blood analysis and medical diagnosis”.
For you it may not look like much, but for people with diabetes this is groundbreaking. They would finally get rid of painful and uncomfortable blood glucose monitoring procedures. This device would be simple to use and people would be using it more without any stress. We now have to wait and see when it will become a commercial product.
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