Diagnosis of a heart attack in 10 minutes
On May 25, Philips announced the introduction into clinical practice of a number of European countries, including the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium (other countries will join later), a new device for emergency diagnosis of myocardial infarction, called Minicare I-20.
As a rule, an electrocardiogram can diagnose only 10% of patients with chest pain. Therefore, the current guidelines for the diagnosis of myocardial infarction require a blood test for the content of cardiac troponin I to the remaining 90% of patients admitted to the intensive care unit with acute chest pain and having uninformative electrocardiogram results.
Minicare I-20 measures the blood content of cardiac troponin I (cTnI), a protein released by the infarcted heart muscle into the bloodstream. The analysis takes only 10 minutes instead of the 60-minute wait required to obtain the results of traditional laboratory tests.
For high-risk patients, including those with manifestations of acute coronary syndrome, rapid diagnosis and urgent appointment of adequate treatment mean a significant increase in the chances of life preservation and recovery. However, the examination of the patient can take up to 6 hours and only after that doctors decide on the discharge of the patient or his hospitalization for further examination. The use of Minicare I-20 will reduce this period by half.
The clinical and analytical performance of the device has been validated in multicenter clinical trials and tested in real-world emergency departments within the framework of the European Lab2Go project conducted by a consortium of European clinics. The data obtained demonstrated the ability of Minicare I-20 for less than 10 minutes, without leaving the patient, to obtain results comparable to the results of traditional laboratory tests.
Minicare I-20 is designed as a multi-purpose device capable of analyzing the content of low concentrations of various compounds in the blood, including several target molecules simultaneously. Currently, an analyzer is being developed on its basis for use in working with patients suffering from neuropsychiatric diseases.
Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru Based on Medical News Today: Handheld device detects heart attacks with one drop of blood and Philips: Philips launches new handheld blood test for rapid point-of-care diagnosis of heart attack.
06.06.2016