Multispectral photoacoustic sensing for accurate glucose monitoring using a supercontinuum laser

Accurate monitoring of glucose levels constitutes the most important parameter for diabetes management and treatment planning. In this work, we report on an in vitro glucose monitoring system based on multispectral photoacoustic sensing (MSPAS) using a cost-effective supercontinuum (SC) laser. We demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, how the use of a broadband SC source allows the identification of distinct absorption characteristics of two major analytes (glucose and cholesterol) present in the human body in the extended near-infrared 1540–1840 nm spectral range. Employing the reported SC-based MSPAS system with a ratiometric analysis, we were able to accurately (coefficient of determination ≥0.938) measure a wide range of glucose concentration levels in vitro. We further demonstrate clinically accurate prediction of glucose concentrations over commonly encountered physiological levels inside the human body (0–400 mg/dL) with reference to a Clarke error grid analysis. These findings pave the way for devising potentially noninvasive and label-free continuous glucose monitoring systems.