You are here: Home » News, views and events » Press releases » Blood sampling - without drawing blood

Blood sampling - without drawing blood

03/10/2003

"The technology could also be used in the testing of new drugs and may reduce the time to market, as well as the cost."

Blood analysis is costly and labour-intensive. It relies almost exclusively on blood withdrawal and off-line analysis, requiring extensive input from carers - which inevitably leads to delays and can result in errors.

Because the information is gleaned from a single moment, analysis can be misleading, resulting in inappropriate medical care. The procedure can carry a risk for both practitioner and patient, and at the least, it's uncomfortable for patients.

Cambridge neuro-scientist Dr Mark O'Connell is developing microEYE, which enables automatic and continuous analysis of a patient's blood chemistry. "MicroEYE will take pressure off busy NHS staff, arm clinicians with more detailed, relevant information and give patients a better standard of care," he says.

Many hospital patients already have an intravenous 'line', usually in the back of the hand or lower arm. This catheter enables medical staff to give fluids and take blood samples. But for much of the time, these 'lines' are capped, awaiting use.

Mark's microEYE is designed to sit inside the catheter and sample the patient's blood, without removing the blood from the body. He says: "With access to continuous information, clinicians can make more informed decisions on the intervention required, and when to apply it. They will be able to proactively care for patients, rather than reactively responding to critical events."

The technology could also be used in the testing of new drugs and may reduce the time to market, as well as the cost.

MicroEYE relies on a semi-permeable membrane being in contact with a patient's biological fluid and, by dialysis, extracting certain key indicator molecules from the fluid for continuous analysis at the bedside.

The technology is an improvement in the technique of microdialysis and is expected to be particularly useful for treating patients in intensive care as well as for a wider routine use.

Mark first started thinking about the concept while working as a biochemist at London's Institute of Neurology but it was not until he joined the University of Cambridge several years later, as Senior Research Associate, that his inspiration came.

Mark and a friend, Denis Lonergan, have set up the Cambridge-based company, Probe Scientific Ltd, to develop microEYE, which they believe will be on the market within the next 12 - 18 months.