Integrated Optofluidic Sensor for Coagulation Risk Monitoring in COVID-19 Patients at Point-of-Care

TL;DR

This paper discusses the development of an integrated optofluidic device combining microfluidics and photonic sensors for rapid, portable, and low-cost coagulation monitoring in COVID-19 patients at the point-of-care.

Contribution

It introduces a novel integrated device that miniaturizes coagulation testing, enabling real-time, portable diagnostics for COVID-19 related coagulopathy.

Findings

Potential for scalable, disposable point-of-care coagulation sensor.

Real-time blood coagulation measurement capability.

Enhanced portability over traditional thromboelastography.

Abstract

While the pathophysiology underlying the COVID-19 infection remains incompletely understood, there is growing evidence to indicate that it is closely correlated to hypercoagulation among severely ill patients. Doctors may choose for use anti-coagulation doses to treat the patients at intensive care units. A rapid, easy, and low-cost solution to monitor the coagulation status at the point-of-care may help with treatment by enabling the administration of controlled doses of medication to patients and to understand the disease's underlying pathophysiology. Thromboelastography, the clinical standard is accurate; it suffers from limited portability and low sensitivity when miniaturized to handheld form factor. In the article, we summarize research helping to advance towards an integrated optofluidic device combining microfluidics and photonic sensor technology. Microfluidics are used to perform blood pre-processing, and a photonic sensor measures blood coagulation status in real-time readout on the device itself. These techniques make it portable and scalable, potentially serving as technology foundation for the development of a disposable sensor for point-of-care diagnostics in COVID-19 patients and coagulopathy in general.