A Portable Spectrophotometer-Based Breathalyzer for Point-of-Care Testing of Diabetic Patients

Diabetes Mellitus is a metabolic disorder characterized by the lack of sufficient insulin. This disease has become a national epidemic in the United States, and therapy non-adherence has become one of the largest precursors leading to diabetic sequelae such as diabetic ketoacidosis. A potential source of patient therapy negligence is the discomfort associated with the finger prick method of glucose monitoring. As a result, a less invasive method to monitor diabetes is sought. This paper describes a portable breathalyzer that is being developed to monitor acetone in the breath of a diabetic patient. The proposed design aims to eliminate the finger prick through a simplified approach for monitoring acetone levels in correlation to elevated glucose levels, thus determining the onset of diabetic ketoacidosis.