Point-of-care testing (POCT): Current techniques and future perspectives

By P. Luppa, Carolin Müller, A. Schlichtiger, H. Schlebusch. Trends in Analytical Chemistry (TrAC), 2011

568 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Point-of-care testing (POCT) is a laboratory-medicine discipline that is evolving rapidly in analytical scope and clinical application. In this review, we first describe the state of the art of medical-laboratory tests that can be performed near the patient. At present, POCT ranges from basic blood-glucose measurement to complex viscoelastic coagulation assays. POCT shortens the time to clinical decision-making about additional testing or therapy, as delays are no longer caused by transport and preparation of clinical samples, and biochemical-test results are rapidly available at the point of care. Improved medical outcome and lower costs may ensue. Recent, evolving technological advances enable the development of novel POCT instruments. We review the underlying analytical techniques. If new instruments are not yet in practical use, it is often hard to decide whether the underlying analytical principle has real advantage over former methods. However, future utilization of POCT also depends on health-care trends and new areas of application. But, even today, it can be assumed that, for certain applications, near-patient testing is a useful complement to conventional laboratory analyses.

Subfields: Biochemistry, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Physiology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a901ad6c2f8e635731bede0a65047317b4f199cd

Citations in the corpus

• Emerging Technologies for Next-Generation Point-of-Care Testing. (2015, unknown): “It offers the advantages of widening accessibility to diagnosis, minimal sample volumes, reduced costs, and rapid analysis times [2].”