Volume Reduction
Conventional blood sampling techniques for disease diagnosis, though effective, are often highly invasive and sometimes even subject to variability in analysis.
With the improvements in molecular detection, the amount of starting sample quantity needed has significantly reduced in some diagnostic procedures, and this has led to an increased interest in micro-sampling techniques for disease biomarker detection. Micro-sampling is a procedure for capturing minute samples (usually <100 μL in the case of blood) from a human body for analysis in a minimally invasive manner. In the diagnostic field, the improvement in molecular detection techniques in recent years has led to a smaller sample demand which implies a reduction in the demand for tubes required for blood analysis.
In the same vein, the miniaturization of certain tests is shifting laboratory testing from the laboratory to the patient, a controversial trend that not all experts agree upon.
In the context of the new role of the patient at the center of the healthcare process, patient-oriented laboratory medicine, with the availability of healthcare data and new care structures, the relationships between physicians, patients, and laboratories are likely to be readjusted in the future.
EXAMPLE:
The Mitra is a portable specimen collection device developed by Neoteryx, a USA-based company specializing in micro-sampling technology. The device is used by both professionals and laypersons to collect a small blood sample using a simple finger-stick method. The Mitra device is based on volumetric absorptive micro-sampling technology, which allows even untrained users to collect a precise micro-sample for analysis in a lab. Mitra micro samples are intended to be analyzed in labs as dried specimen samples, a method that keeps bio-specimens stable and eliminates the need for cold shipping and storage.
Expert Statement Dieter Deryckere:
The number of tests performed on a blood sample is increasing. In the past, a blood sample was screened for one particular condition. Today, 30 tests are being performed at the same time on the same sample. Moreover, the demand for smaller volume tubes (0.5mL instead of 1 mL tubes) is increasing, especially in pediatrics or for people who have difficulties donating blood. The trend towards smaller volume samples is something that is happening now. Not to forget that this trend is also motivated by economical and ecological reasons, by reducing costs and handling.
Expert Statement Alexander Haushofer:
We have seen that the alleged microsystems were a fraud, an exposed fraud. But you have to be honest, we still use a lot of tubes today, but a fraction of the number of tubes that we used ten years ago. So, the quantities of serum or plasma needed for clinical chemistry have gone way down. We are moving in the micro range. You need five, eight, or sometimes ten milliliters for one clinical, chemical analysis. That is little. So, the question is always, what is the cost of improving this?