US 9,310,328 B1Granted

Method of detecting leukemia

AssigneeKing Abdulaziz University

InventorsSoliman Mahmoud Soliman Abdalla, Abdullah Yousif Obaid

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Abstract

The method of detecting leukemia involves placing a suspension of red blood cells in a reservoir having a capillary tube partially immersed in the reservoir. An alternating current is applied to electrodes (one in the reservoir, the other in the capillary tube) at different frequencies. The electrical resistance is measured at the interface between the electrode and the suspension in the capillary tube. At the same time, CCD (charge coupled device) cameras take images, both top views and side views. The electrical resistance will show a peak at a characteristic resonant frequency, which is different for cancerous blood cells than for normal blood cells. The CCD images will show a pattern of maximum repulsion from the electrode at the resonant frequency in the top view, and minimum height of blood cells on the side of the electrode at the resonant frequency in the side view.

Claims9

Dependent claims

A method of detecting leukemia, comprising the steps of:

placing a suspension of red blood cells in a reservoir having a capillary tube partially immersed in the suspension;
placing a first electrode in the reservoir outside the capillary tube;
placing a second electrode into the capillary tube, and bringing the second electrode into contact with the surface of the suspension;
applying an a.c. field to the electrodes;
sweeping the frequency of the a.c. field between 0 Hz and 1×107 Hz;
measuring the electrical resistance as a function of frequency between the second electrode and the surface of the suspension;
and
taking top view images of the suspension at the interface between the second electrode and the surface of the suspension with a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera during said sweeping step;
analyzing the images to determine a resonant frequency at which the red blood cells are repelled from the electrode and exhibit a most-ordered pattern of chains of red blood cells;
and
comparing the resonant frequency with a frequency that is unique to red blood cells obtained from patients with leukemia, leukemia being detected when the frequencies are substantially identical.

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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.