A blood-sampling robot went through its first human clinical trial and performed as good as, or better than, a human. The automated blood drawing and testing device was created by a Rutgers-University-led team, primarily to free up time for healthcare professionals to be able to spend more time treating patients.
The robot would be perfect for hospital and clinical settings where it could do precise blood tests with quick results. It could be used at bedsides, emergency rooms, doctors’ offices, and ambulances.
The Clinical Trial And Its Results
- Thirty-one participants had blood drawn. The robot’s overall success rate for those people was 87%.
- Twenty-five of the participants had veins that were easy to access. The success rate for them was 97%.
- The team elaborates on the process and outcome of the trial in a paper published in Technology.
The blood-sampling device contains:
- an ultrasound image-guided robot that autonomously draws blood from veins
- a module that handles samples
- a centrifuge-based blood analyzer
Venipuncture
Venipuncture is the process of inserting a needle into a vein to perform IV therapy or get a blood sample. It is the most common clinical procedure in the world. Over 1.4 billion of them are performed every year in the United States alone.
It may seem like a relatively simple procedure, but the reality is that clinicians fail in 60% of emaciated patients, 40% of patients without palpable veins, and 27% of patients without visible veins. The problem is that repeated failures to start an IV line increases the probability of thrombosis, phlebitis, and infections.
If the task proves impossible, the clinician may have to target larger veins or arteries in the body, which is a greater risk and cost. Furthermore, a hard to access vein could increase procedure time by up to an hour and require the involvement of additional staff — situations such as these cost over $4 billion a year in the United States.
Josh Leipheimer, lead author and a biomedical engineering doctoral student in the Yarmush lab at the School of Engineering at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, said:
A device like ours could help clinicians get blood samples quickly, safely and reliably, preventing unnecessary complications and pain in patients from multiple needle insertion attempts.
For now, the blood-sampling robot is still in the prototype phase. The team’s next step is to refine the tool to improve success rates in people with difficult to access veins. They will use the data from this study and build upon it in the next phase to enhance the artificial intelligence in the robot and improve its performance. Eventually, the device could be employed to automate procedures such as central venous access, dialysis, IV catheterization, and placing arterial lines.
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