se8b00030_si_001.pdf (781.68 kB)
Optofluidic Sensor for Inline Hemolysis Detection on Whole Blood
journal contribution
posted on 2018-02-23, 03:48 authored by Chen Zhou, Mehdi Keshavarz Hedayati, Xiaolong Zhu, Frank Nielsen, Uriel Levy, Anders KristensenHemolysis
is the rupture of red blood cells and constitutes the
most common reason for unsuitable blood samples in the clinic. To
detect hemolysis, one has to separate the hemoglobin in blood plasma
from that in red blood cells. However, current methods entail centrifugation
for cell-plasma separation, which is complex, time-consuming, and
not easy to integrate into point-of-care (PoC) systems. Here, we demonstrate
an optofluidic sensor composed of nanofilters on an optical waveguide,
which enables evanescent-wave absorption measurement of hemoglobin
in plasma with the capability of real-time inline detection on whole
blood without extra sample preparation like centrifugation. Long-term
testing with inline integration in a modified, commercial blood gas
analyzer shows high reliability and repeatability of the measurements
even with the presence of interference from bilirubin. We envision
that the present work has large potential in improving diagnosis quality
by enabling PoC hemolysis detection in blood gas analyzers and can
also lend unique sensing capabilities to other applications dealing
with complex turbid media.