Patent ID: 6636759
Filing Date: 2003-10-21
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
A non-invasive method for measuring the concentration of urea in human tissue comprising the steps of:providing an apparatus for measuring infrared absorption, said apparatus including an energy source emitting infrared energy at multiple wavelengths, including selected wavelengths relevant to urea concentration due to absorption by said urea, and an input element, said apparatus further including an output element; and irradiating said tissue through said input element with said multiple wavelengths of infrared energy before, during or after hemodialysis for assessing the need for hemodialysis, the progress of a hemodialysis procedure or the adequacy of the hemodialysis treatment, respectively, and collecting and subsequently measuring at least a portion of the non-absorbed infrared energy with said output element to predict said tissue urea concentration by use of a multivariate algorithm.