Non-invasive continuous online hemoglobin monitoring system

The Hemoglobin (Hb) concentration in human blood is an important parameter to evaluate the physiological condition. A hemoglobin test reveals how much hemoglobin is to be found in the blood. With this information anemia (a low hemoglobin level) and polycythemia vera (a high hemoglobin level) can be a diagnosed and monitored. It is also possible to observe postoperative bleedings and autologous retransfusions. Currently, invasive methods are used to measure the Hb concentration. For this purpose blood is taken and analyzed. The disadvantage of this method is the delay between the blood collection and its analysis, which does not allow real-time monitoring of patients in critical situations. The non-invasive method, discussed in this paper, allows pain free online monitoring of patients with minimum risk of infection. Real-time data monitoring facilitates immediate clinical reaction to the measured data.