Portable simultaneous multiple analyte whole-blood analyzer for point-of-care testing

We describe a portable clinical chemistry analyzer for point-of-care measurements of multiple analytes in less than 10 min from approximately 40 microL of whole blood (fingerstick or venous). Whole blood is applied directly to a 7.9-cm-diameter, single-use plastic rotor containing liquid diluent and greater than or equal to 4-12 tests in the form of 1- to 2-mm-diameter dry reagent beads. The reagent/rotor is immediately placed in a portable instrument along with a ticket/label results card. As the instrument spins the rotor, capillary and rotational forces process the blood into diluted plasma, distribute the patient's diluted sample to cuvettes containing the reagent beads, and mix the diluted sample with the reagents. The instrument monitors the chemical reactions optically at nine wavelengths; sample volume and temperature are also measured optically. The calibration data for each reagent are read from a bar code on the periphery of each rotor. The instrument processes all the measurements to calculate, store, print, and communicate the results. Each reagent/rotor contains an enzymatic control that must be within a defined range before the results from that analysis are reported.