SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SPEUDO-CONTINUOUS MEASUREMENT OF METABOLITE CONCENTRATIONS IN A MAMMALIAN BODY

摘要

A system (10) for monitoring the concentration of a metabolite within a human or animal body includes a fluid delivery system (12) for supplying dialysate to a microdialysis probe (14). The fluid delivery system provides pulsed fluid flow in order to achieve very low effective flow rates with reliable flow control, and employs mechanical linkage between the supply arrangements for the dialysate (20) and a reagent (22) to ensure a constant volumetric flow ratio. Preferred implementations employ non-contact optical sensors (40a, 40b) and subdivide the components of the system, including the optical measurement system, into separable reusable (50) and disposable (54) sub-units.