CPC A61B 10/0064 (2013.01) [A61B 5/4266 (2013.01); A61B 5/443 (2013.01); A61B 5/6824 (2013.01); A61B 5/6831 (2013.01)] | 7 Claims |
1. A continuous real-time sweat collection and analysis system comprising:
a sweat collecting article comprising:
a thin, flexible, conformable, and impervious covering having two surfaces comprising a body-facing surface and an opposing outwardly-oriented surface, a central portion, edges that define a perimeter of said central portion, and a perimeter portion surrounding said central portion, wherein the perimeter portion has adhesive on the body-facing surface for adhering the covering to a person's skin and for forming a seal around said central portion, and said central portion of the body-facing surface is free of adhesive;
a sweat collector tube having a first end, a second end, and a length that extends between said first and second ends, wherein the first end of said sweat collector tube is positioned adjacent to said covering so that the central portion of the covering overlaps a first portion of said tube and the adhesive on said perimeter portion of said covering adheres to a second portion of said tube, and a third portion of said tube extends outward beyond an edge of said covering to the second end of said tube, wherein the second end of said tube is free to place in fluid communication with an instrument for analyzing said sweat; and
an instrument for analyzing sweat collected from a person wherein said instrument has an input port for receiving fluid samples, and the free end of said sweat collector tube is in fluid communication with the input port of said instrument, wherein said instrument is a mass spectrometer and said mass spectrometer is configured to receive sweat samples on a continuous basis from said sweat collection device.
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