Patent ID: 8644900

Claim:
Apparatus for non-invasively monitoring at least one parameter of a region of interest within a first tissue type within a human body, the human body including the first tissue type and at least a second tissue type, the apparatus comprising: a control unit; and a measurement unit comprising: an optical unit having an illumination assembly that defines at least one output port configured to generate illuminating light, and a light detection assembly that defines at least one light input port that is configured to detect scattered light and to generate measured data indicative of the detected light; and an acoustic unit configured to generate acoustic waves, the control unit being configured to drive the measurement unit to provide an operating condition such that: the acoustic waves overlap with a region within the region of interest that is illuminated by illuminating light of the illumination assembly such as to generate at least a first set of tagged photons, the acoustic waves overlap with a region of tissue within the second tissue type that is illuminated by illuminating light of the illumination assembly such as to generate at least a second set of tagged photons, the first and second sets of tagged photons being distinguishable from one another, and the detection assembly collects: the first set of tagged photons that were scattered from the region of interest, and the second set of tagged photons that were scattered from the second tissue type, and the control unit being further configured to determine said at least one parameter of the region of interest by extracting, from the measured data, data portions associated with, respectively, the light response of the region of interest and the light response of the second tissue type, by distinguishing between the first and second sets of tagged photons.