The main goal is have tailor therapies, and for that a it is needed wide range of measurements with different conditions on the patient’s bleeding and clotting. Although the number of drugs available to modify clotting and bleeding risks are increasing, the precise medicine needs to be tackled in the cardiovascular field. Thus, FlowMAP is a diagnostic platform that screens and tests coagulation as to map the thrombotic state of an individual. It does not only measure isolated aspects of the clotting process, thus, it can be improved the assessment of overall risk.
3.2 Performing a FlowMAP run
FlowMAP technology is complex and takes long time and effort to run, from the preparation of the proteins to the cleaning of the platform. The preparation of a run starts by coating a disposable microfluidics cartridge of 192 polycarbonate tubes, see FlowMAP platform and cartridge in Figure 3-1. These tubes simulate capillaries and are coated with a matrix of randomly distributed proteins. The run starts by vacuuming a sample of venous blood to the cartridge. The …show more content…
3.3.2 Bioimpedance Method
The bioimpedance measurement method could perfectly fit for the aim of this project as it has several advantages: low cost, easy application, noninvasiveness and capability for online monitoring. Also, the use of microelectrodes can be a big advantage as to reduce the sample volume required. [3] Measuring electrical impedance as to define the blood coagulation process can become an easy and fast measurement technique.[4].
Many aspects of the blood properties can be measured. As it is an ionic fluid, the impedance of the blood could be a potential good method to see different changes when clotting. Thus, the impedance measurement might be a good replacement for the optical method.
Solving Optical Issues
When using an impedance method, no modification on the blood components takes place. The fact of implementing that new measurement makes it faster and more economic to read the results of each FlowMAP’s run. Besides, it does not require a complex implementation. At the same time, the use of the bioimpedance method allows the real-time measurement. The fact of having a real-time measurement will give an extra valuable variable to the results obtained, the