Signal processing system to quantify bilirubin in the jaundice clinical model spectra

Neonatal jaundice is a medical condition which occurs in newborns as a result of an imbalance between the production and elimination of bilirubin. Excess bilirubin in the blood stream diffuses into the surrounding tissue leading to a yellowing of the skin. An optical system integrated with a signal processing system is used as a platform to noninvasively quantify bilirubin concentration through the measurement of diffuse skin reflectance. Initial studies, based on simulated skin reflectance spectra have lead to the generation of a clinical model for neonatal jaundice which, generates spectral reflectance data for jaundiced skin with varying levels of bilirubin concentration in the tissue. The spectral database built using the jaundice clinical model is then used as a test database to validate the signal processing system in real time. This evaluation forms the basis for understanding the translation of this research to human trials. The new jaundice clinical model and signal processing system have been successful validated using a porcine model as a surrogate for neonatal skin tissue. Samples of pig skin were soaked in bilirubin solutions of varying concentrations to simulate jaundice skin conditions. The resulting skins samples were analyzed with our skin reflectance systems producing bilirubin concentration values that show a high correlation (R² = 0.96) to concentration of the bilirubin solution that each porcine tissue sample was soaked in.