A non-destructive approach for estimation of Hb, HCT and red blood cells using reflectance spectroscopic technique

Abstract

Paediatric haematology involves the use of non-invasive methods and technologies to evaluate haematological parameters in children. These techniques attempt to offer precise measurements of blood constituents without the necessity of intrusive procedures such as venipuncture or blood draws, which can be difficult and unpleasant for paediatric patients. The data gathered from the elbow will be given priority for further investigations to find haematological profiles. Estimates of haemoglobin, haematocrit, and red blood cell count were done and compared against the values obtained using conventional methods. This method achieves an accuracy of 75.56% with high precision and specificity which makes the method particularly beneficial for paediatric applications, potentially due to physiological differences or enhanced calibration for younger populations. The sensitivity varies with red blood cells (RBC) showing the lowest true positive detection rate. Future work could focus on improving the sensitivity of these parameters to enhance the accuracy. Conventional techniques cannot monitor continuously and remotely, which is crucial for a point-of-care screening device in the current era. The proposed non-destructive technique offers the benefits of infection control, pain reduction, and minimal operational cum maintenance expenses, all while being portable and child friendly.