Technological and Medical Advances in Point of Care Diagnostics |...

Technological and Medical Advances in Point of Care Diagnostics

Veröffentlicht 2024-09-12 14:19:28

History of Point of Care Diagnostic Development

The concept of POCT emerged in the 1960s when simple urine test strips were first introduced to allow basic urinalysis outside the laboratory setting. However, significant technological advances took place much later in 1990s-2000s with the development of reliable portable diagnostic instruments that could perform complex analyses. Early POCT devices featured tests like pregnancy, strep throat and HIV rapid tests. With ongoing miniaturization of electronics and microfluidics technology, modern POCT platforms can assay for dozens of analytes from small sample volumes. Today POCT is widely utilized in emergency departments, doctors offices, ambulances and even homes.

Common Applications of Point of Care Diagnostic

Glucose Monitoring: Blood glucose meters are among the most widely used POCT devices, helping diabetics monitor levels multiple times daily. Advances like continuous glucose monitoring now automate the process.

Infectious Disease Testing: Point of Care Diagnostics , Rapid diagnostic tests for infections like HIV, influenza, respiratory viruses, hepatitis, tuberculosis etc. enable prompt treatment decisions. COVID-19 antigen/antibody tests also fall under this category.

Cardiac Marker Testing: Portable cardiac marker analyzers measuring troponin, BNP levels aid quick rule-out/rule-in of acute coronary syndromes in emergency departments.

Coagulation Monitoring: International Normalized Ratio (INR) monitors allow rapid checking of anticoagulant levels by patients undergoing long term therapy like warfarin treatment.

Pregnancy & Ovulation Testing: Home use tests detecting human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) levels and luteinizing hormone (LH) surges are common forms of POCT.

Drugs of Abuse Testing: On-site qualitative and quantitative testing for illicit/prescription drugs is utilized for workplace, forensic, rehab screening applications.

Key Point of Care Diagnostic Platform Technologies

Lateral Flow Immunoassays: Often used for qualitative yes/no results, these simple diploid stripe assays underpin majority of rapid infectious disease and pregnancy tests via antibody-antigen capture.

Microfluidics: Miniaturized fluidic circuits capable of transporting, mixing, separating and detecting analytes from tiny sample volumes. Help develop high complexity, multi-analyte assays.

Electrochemistry: Detection of chemical reactions like oxidation/reduction of molecules by means of electrodes. Used by glucose meters and cardiac marker analyzers.

Microscopy: Integrating microscopic imaging capabilities with smartphone cameras enables visualization of cells, parasites for diagnosis of conditions like malaria.

Molecular Assays: Low level multiplex PCR and other techniques adapted for rapid nucleic acid detection on compact, cartridge-based platforms. Facilitates POCT for viruses and antimicrobial resistance genes.