An automatic and portable phototherapy garment (appg) with integrated non-invasive bilirubin detector

Abstract

Hyperbilirubinemia or jaundice occurs in 60% of healthy infants and 80% of premature infants due to elevation of unconjugated bilirubin in red blood cells. Various clinical assessments are required for infants who are diagnosed with jaundice, which includes evaluation of previous history, physical examinations and assessment of jaundice severity. The paper describes the development of a non-invasive bilirubin detector using skin optic theory with light emitting diode (LED) and photodiode. The bilirubin detector which is integrated to the automatic and portable phototherapy garment (APPG) is able to measure bilirubin level non-invasively and automatically determines the appropriate treatment period depending on different bilirubin severity range. The APPG system is able to display real-time bilirubin measurements which represent three levels (normal, mild and critical) of jaundice conditions, Bilirubin degradation experiments were conducted using artificial bilirubin standard solution (ABSS) to mimic the actual bilirubin in blood.