SUMMARY
Researchers in the UCLA Department of Medicine have built a medical device that can do blood tests immediately after the blood is drawn.
BACKGROUND
Currently, conventional point-of-care blood tests are used to measure clinically relevant values, such as activated clotting time (ACT) and Hemoglobin and Hematocrit (H&H) for medical procedures, surgeries and disease diagnosis. But conventional sampling suffers from issues such as the introduction of dangerous pockets air into the patients’ blood streams, known as embolisms and issues with blood coagulation which can reduce the accuracy of the testing. The main reason for these issues is that conventional blood test requires testing the blood via a remote load point-of-care system. As such, this not only takes extra time before an accurate reading is done, but also requires the use of heparin or other anticoagulants to prevent premature clotting which can impact the test result and lead to less accurate results. Therefore, a new blood testing system that can reduce life threating side effects such as embolisms and improve the accuracy and speed of testing is greatly needed.
INNOVATION
UCLA researchers in the Department of Medicine have developed the Smart Syringe, a device that can be used to measure activated clotting time (ACT) and Hemoglobin and Hematocrit (H&H) within the syringe. By using embedded impedance and optical sensors, this innovation can accurately report results within a few moments after blood is drawn from a patient. Designed primarily for procedures and surgeries, the Smart Syringe can remain connected to the patient while the measures are taken. This reduces the possibility of air embolisms introduced when syringes are removed and improves the accuracy of the blood testing by avoid the use of anticoagulants such as thrombin as readings are almost immediate. The readings of these test can then be used to make immediate follow-up and intervention if needed such as adjusting the dose of Heparin or other anticoagulants such as a direct thrombin inhibitor. Finally, because these measurements are conducted with a remote wireless device, results can immediately be transferred and digitally recorded allowing for rapid evaluation and prevents issues such as misinterpretation of readings.
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS
- Blood test/drawings during surgery
- Fast activated clotting time measurement
- Fast Hemoglobin and Hematocrit measurement
- Emergency Medicine usage for those not close to a traditional blood measuring system
ADVANTAGES
- Short measurement time, as low as several seconds.
- No anticoagulation needed resulting in higher accuracy
- Lower chances of developing embolisms
STATUS OF DEVELOPMENT
A prototype medical device has been developed and tested