Bile determination is very useful to diagnose many gastric pathologies. Actually, the measurement is performed with Bilitec 2000, an optical fiber sensor, based on the absorption of bilirubin. Nevertheless, erroneous evaluations can occur due to different configurations which the bilirubin molecule can adopt. The optical behavior of human samples of pure bile and bile + gastric juice has been examined by an optical fiber spectrophotometer and two properly modified Bilitec 2000 units. Analysis of pH dependance evidenced the presence of different calibration curves at different pH values, which Bilitec units showed that 420 nm could be a more appropriate wavelength for bilirubin detection.

Date Published: 15 January 1999
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 3570, Biomedical Sensors, Fibers, and Optical Delivery Systems, (15 January 1999); doi: 10.1117/12.336925

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 3570:
Biomedical Sensors, Fibers, and Optical Delivery Systems
Francesco Baldini; Nathan I. Croitoru; Martin Frenz; Ingemar Lundstroem; Mitsunobu Miyagi; Riccardo Pratesi; Otto S. Wolfbeis, Editor(s)