Polymethyl Methacrylate-Based Smart Microfluidic Point-of-Care Testing of Prothrombin Time and International Normalized Ratio through Optical Detection

The mechanical heart valve is a crucial solution for many patients. However, it cannot function on the state of blood as human tissue valves. Thus, people with mechanical valves are put under anticoagulant therapy. A good measurement of the state of blood and how long it takes blood to form clots is the prothrombin time (PT); moreover, it is an indicator of how well the anticoagulant therapy is, and of whether the response of the patient to the drug is as needed. For a more specific standardized measurement of coagulation time, an international normalized ratio (INR) is established. Clinical testing of INR and PT is relatively easy. However, it requires the patient to visit the clinic for evaluation purposes. Many techniques are therefore being developed to provide PT and INR self-testing devices. Unfortunately, those solutions are either inaccurate, complex, or expensive. The present work approaches the design of an anticoagulation self-monitoring device that is easy to use, accurate, and relatively inexpensive. Hence, a two-channel polymethyl methacrylate-based microfluidic point-of-care (POC) smart device has been developed. The Arduino based lab-on-a-chip device applies optical properties to a small amount of blood. The achieved accuracy is 96.7%.