Vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature and urinary output may all be measured continuously using physical sensors, with the information immediately available to doctors. However, it is not yet possible to monitor the blood chemistry of a patient in a similar way. That may change if a prototype monitoring system developed under the EU's Standards, Measurements and Testing Programme comes to fruition. Scientists and clinicians from Dublin, Berlin, Vienna and Basel have collaborated on a new method of continuously measuring the amounts of two important blood chemicals - glucose and lactate. Two critical chemicals Glucose, or blood sugar, is the means by which energy from food is made available within the body.
Energy is released when the glucose combines with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water.
Where the supply of oxygen is restricted, however, a chemical called lactate starts to accumulate in the blood. A raised level of lactate is regarded as a sign that some part of the body is being deprived of oxygen, a condition known as tissue hypoxia. Continuous monitoring of lactate would give early warning of impending trouble, especially in cases of bacterial infection and shock, which are major causes of death in intensive care patients. Likewise, patients suffering from diabetes, who lack the means to control their blood sugar, would benefit from having their glucose levels monitored continuously when they are in diabetic coma and during surgery for other conditions. Although much research has been carried out in this area, the system developed under this project is believed to be unique in being able to simultaneously monitor blood glucose and lactate rapidly and accurately, using several innovative technologies.