Diffuse transmitted spectroscopy in conjunction with spectral peak averaging as a potential tool for noninvasive creatinine screening

Creatinine (Cr) is a biochemical waste molecule generated from muscle metabolism and primarily cleared from the bloodstream by the kidneys. If kidney function declines, Cr levels in the blood tend to increase. Therefore, Cr serves as an indicator of kidney function. In this work, we present a simple method for the rapid screening for impaired renal function based on the subject's Cr concentration. In our setup, broadband white light is delivered to a finger clamp through a fiber-optic cable to illuminate the patient's finger. The light is transmitted through the finger and collected by a second optical fiber coupled to a visible-near-infrared (VisNIR) spectrometer which covers the spectral range from 400nm to 1100nm. During the calibration process, the transmitted spectra acquired from 60 patients were measured. An average was calculated using the peak level of the transmitted, diffused intensity at three different wavelengths to create a "Cr intensity index". Patients were divided into five groups according to their Cr concentration levels, ranging from 1mg/dL to 13mg/dL. Our observations indicated that each group featured a unique spectral fingerprint. Next, we tested the index on 20 patients not included in the calibration procedure (unknown samples). We were able to classify patients into groups according to their Cr level with moderate prediction accuracy (R2=0.55) and mean screening error of up to 16%. Future efforts will evaluate the accuracy of this approach with larger patient populations representing a broad range of Cr concentration. Still, this preliminary work is an essential step toward developing this useful noninvasive Cr screening platform using NIR light spectroscopy.