On the pathway of whole blood analysis by portable ATR-IR and chemometrics

Abstract

Currently, the number of patients per state hospital in Turkey is too high. Doctors need point of care(PoC) tests like blood analysis, to diagnose his/her patients. Patients is firstly examined by a doctor. If the doctor needs blood analysis, then patient gives blood to blood laboratory. After a certain time, the results are given to the patient and he/she meets with the doctor again to show the results. This causes too much time loss. In addition, these analyses are not performed in some small healthcare centers and cause extra time loss, which is another major problem in the health care system. Electrochemical, spectrophotometric and enzymatic analysis methods are mostly used for blood analysis. The sum of glucose, urea, triglycerides, cholesterol, albumin and total protein tests cost for 7TL. Blood samples are taken separately about 2-5ml volume for each test and preliminary procedures are required. On the other hand, ATR-IR spectrometry is a technique that does not require preliminary sample preparation, less sample volume, cheap and results in shorter time. Studies have been carried out in the literature which have shown positive results on glucose, urea, triglycerides, cholesterol, albumin and total protein in blood, plasma and serum using ATR technique. The six components in blood have importance in the diagnosis of a disease at the patient. The aim of this thesis is a preliminary study to determine the glucose, urea, triglyceride, cholesterol, albumin and total protein concentrations in 1 minute, 1 u of blood, using disposable crystals and less than 1 dollar in the doctor's room by direct analysis of the blood using ATR-IR spectrometry and using chemometrics algorithms to predict them from the spectral data.