Many clinical/medical conditions, i.e, neurological emergencies and disorders, require rapid intervention. Stroke is one example. In this context, availability of medical devices can enhance medical care to the patient. Blood cell counters, which are used to count blood components such as red and white blood cells, are ubiquitous in medicine as a diagnostic aid for disease identification or as a general tool for many medical therapies. The pre-eminent device in use today is the Coulter counter, which is expensive, large, and generally not portable, requiring at least a desktop, household current supply and a small support laboratory. The goal of this research and development project is to design a prototype miniature blood cell counter for home-care, or point-of-care analysis in doctors' offices, clinics, and hospitals. The novel blood counter we propose to develop is based on new, emerging micromachine technologies, and would be approximately the size of a small cell-phone, requiring very low electrical power. Similar to an inkjet print head, which is also a product of micromachined fluidics technology, the core analytical components of the miniature blood counter would be inexpensively mass-produced. The cost per unit would be low enough that the analytical portion could here placed after each use.
The proposed device has several likely economic advantages. Firstly, it will reduce the need for and cost of transport of blood samples to centralized laboratory. Secondly, expedient diagnosis will mean fewer clinical complications fewer office visits, shorter hospital stays and possible a reduced need to transport patients. It could result in an overall savings of several million dollars annually.
