A new technique could reduce racial disparities in blood measurements

The research team, led by a professor of bioengineering at the University of Texas at Arlington and an Austin businessman, published key findings in the British Journal of Medical Innovation, shedding light on how a new device could more accurately measure hemoglobin
in darker-skinned people.

George Alexandrakis, professor of bioengineering at the University of Texas at Arlington, and Dr.
Vinoop Daggubati of Shani Biotechnology Ltd.
conducted a clinical study on 16 healthy volunteers at the University of Texas at Arlington and measured their hemoglobin and oxygen levels
using newly developed technology.
The team compared
the results with the accuracy and variability of those obtained using a commercial pulse oximeter.

Racial disparities in hemoglobin and oximetry are a pressing public health issue
.
The devices currently available are inaccurate
for dark-skinned people.
The U.
S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a safety advisory and organized an advisory committee meeting on November 1, 2022 to discuss the issue
in detail.

The UTA team's findings are encouraging, and new technologies have great potential
to address this clinically unmet need.
Alexandrakis said their aim is to develop a wearable device, such as a watch or display, that can read blood
through the skin.

Most of the hemoglobin monitoring methods currently available require a blood sample and expensive equipment
.
Existing noninvasive spectroscopy methods are highly variable and tend to be inaccurate
in people of color due to differences in skin melanin.
There is still a large unmet
need for a reliable, non-invasive device to assess hemoglobin, regardless of skin color.

Pulse oximeters currently on the market use red infrared light and are based on technology
first designed more than 50 years ago.
In contrast, the team's device relies on the spectral properties
of hemoglobin in the blue-green light spectrum.

"We have used green blue light and successfully tested the device
in preclinical and clinical studies," Daggubati said.
"Our team has solved problems such as
shorter wavelengths, light scattering and the effects of melanin in the skin.
The scientific community should be open to the green light concept of these measurements
.
The Shani device has great potential
to eliminate this racial disparity.
”