According to a press release from VeraLight Inc., an Albuquerque, New Mexico company, fluorescent light detection technology “was able to significantly outperform fasting plasma glucose (FPG) as a screening test for pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
Results from a clinical study presented at the 66th annual Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association… showed a prototype medical device using the technology was able to identify 20 percent more patients with type 2 diabetes or its precursor.”
Company’s explains the technology that detects advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs):
Weighting about 10 pounds, the VeraLight Scout utilizes proprietary fluorescence spectroscopic technology that does not require patient fasting. The subject inserts the palm-side of the forearm into the system, which resembles a drug-store blood-pressure monitor. In about a minute the Scout shines various wavelengths of light on the skin to stimulate fluorescence that is measured by the machine to provide an indication of diabetes risk based on the presence of AGEs. The instrument optically calibrates for skin pigmentation so that performance is not diminished by skin coloration. A specially designed fiber-optic probe couples the excitation light to the subject and relays resulting skin fluorescence to a detection module. The system’s software utilizes multivariate statistical techniques that are applied to the spectra to obtain a diabetes risk score…
VeraLight has developed the Scout instrument to revolutionize screening for Type 2 diabetes. Scout employs fluorescence spectroscopy to noninvasively measure advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) in the dermis of a subject’s forearm. The concentration of AGEs in the dermis is an excellent indicator of cumulative hyperglycemic exposure and is highly correlated with the development of diabetes complications.
The accurate and reproducible (5% inter-day coefficient of variation) Scout measurement can be made anytime of day because fasting is not required. There are no needles or biohazards. The Scout test is simpler to do than a blood pressure test and takes less than 60 seconds to produce a quantitative result. The physician can immediately interpret the Scout results to determine if further diagnostic work-up is warranted. The Scout test eliminates the hassle of a separate trip to the reference laboratory. In addition, it reduces patient compliance and test result reporting issues. Scout’s performance and convenience enable widespread, opportunistic diabetes screening of the at risk patient population.
Company site…
