title: Optical analysis of lithium carbonate: towards the development of a portable lithium blood level analyzer for bipolar disorder patients.
abstract: Lithium medication is the gold standard of treatment in Bipolar Disorder patients, preventing and reducing mood swings and suicidality. However, despite its effectiveness, it is a potentially hazardous drug requiring regular monitoring of blood levels to ensure toxic levels are not reached. This paper describes the first steps towards developing a new portable device that can be used by Bipolar Disorder patients to facilitate the analysis of lithium blood levels at home. Solutions of lithium carbonate have been optically fingerprinted using a high-end spectrophotometer. Preliminary measurements indicate that while the visible to near infrared region of the absorption spectra fall heavily within the water band, measurements in the Ultraviolet region show a strong distinction between different lithium concentrations. The optical spectra of Lithium in the 220 nm to 230 nm region demonstrated the ability to differentiate between concentrations representing those found in patients.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: May
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hickey
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Triantis
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Palazidou
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Kyriacou
mesh_terms: D065966:Absorption, Physicochemical; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000097:blood*; D002138:Calibration; D006801:Humans; D008094:Lithium / Q000097:blood*; D016651:Lithium Carbonate / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D016651:Lithium Carbonate; D008094:Lithium