Non-invasive blood viscosity monitor and methods of use

A method for measuring blood viscosity in a variety of settings or measurement environments, comprising:

• non-invasively sensing at least one of blood flow rate or blood pressure differential from a subject using an optical sensor configured to sense blood flow rate in a blood vessel of the subject in a setting or environment by providing incident light into the blood vessel of the subject, measuring reflected light, and outputting phase shift data representative of the phase shift between the incident light and the reflected light, the optical sensor comprising at least one carbon nanotube (CNT) that deflects light collected by the optical sensor in accordance with received voltages;
• non-invasively sensing at least one of blood flow rate or blood pressure differential from the subject using a magnetic field sensor comprising a magnetic field application member that applies a magnetic field to the blood vessel of the subject in the setting or environment and a magnetic field detector that detects a displacement in the magnetic field indicative of the blood flow rate in the blood vessel of the subject, and outputs measured voltages representing the detected displacement;
• providing measured voltages output by the magnetic field sensor representing the detected displacement to the at least one carbon nanotube CNT that is deflected by the measured voltages to shift a phase of an output of the optical sensor in accordance with the displacement in the magnetic field;
• providing the measured voltages output by the magnetic field sensor representing the detected displacement and the phase shift data from the optical sensor to at least one processing circuit configured to receive and process the measured voltages from the magnetic field sensor and the phase shift data from the optical sensor to calculate blood viscosity and to generate a medical diagnostic using an indication of the calculated blood viscosity;
• prioritizing, by the at least one processing circuit, an output of one of the optical sensor or the magnetic field sensor for use in the blood viscosity calculation based on the setting or environment in which blood viscosity is being calculated;
• calculating, by the at least one processing circuit, the blood viscosity using the prioritized output;
• generating, by the at least one processing circuit, a medical diagnostic using an indication of the calculated blood viscosity;
• and
• presenting, by the at least one processing circuit, the medical diagnostic to a display.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions that when executed by at least one processor cause the at least one processor to perform a method for measuring blood parameters, including:

• non-invasively sensing at least one of blood flow rate or blood pressure differential from a subject using an optical sensor configured to sense blood flow rate in a blood vessel of the subject in a setting or environment by providing incident light into the blood vessel of the subject, measuring reflected light, and outputting phase shift data representative of the phase shift between the incident light and the reflected light, the optical sensor comprising at least one carbon nanotube (CNT) that deflects light collected by the optical sensor in accordance with received voltages;
• non-invasively sensing at least one of blood flow rate or blood pressure differential from the subject using a magnetic field sensor comprising a magnetic field application member that applies a magnetic field to the blood vessel of the subject in the setting or environment and a magnetic field detector that detects a displacement in the magnetic field indicative of the blood flow rate in the blood vessel of the subject and outputs measured voltages representing the detected displacement;
• providing measured voltages output by the magnetic field sensor representing the detected displacement to the at least one carbon nanotube CNT that is deflected by the measured voltages to shift a phase of an output of the optical sensor in accordance with the displacement in the magnetic field;
• receiving the measured voltages output by the magnetic field sensor representing the detected displacement and the phase shift data from the optical sensor;
• processing the measured voltages from the magnetic field sensor and the phase shift data from the optical sensor to calculate blood viscosity and to generate a medical diagnostic using an indication of the calculated blood viscosity by performing the steps of:
• prioritizing an output of one of the optical sensor or the magnetic field sensor for use in the blood viscosity calculation based on the setting or environment in which blood viscosity is being calculated,
• calculating the blood viscosity using the prioritized output, and
• generating a medical diagnostic using an indication of the calculated blood viscosity;
• and
• presenting the medical diagnostic to a display.