BILISPEC BILIRUBIN MEASUREMENT DEVICE

Jaundice is due to hyperbilirubinemia, which is particularly common in premature babies, who need an adequate liver capacity to discharge excess bilirubin. Affects approximately 60 percent of babies, can cause brain damage or even death if not treated.

In sub-Saharan Africa, where specialists often do not have access to expensive diagnostic equipment, babies are 100 times more likely to die from this cause than newborns in the United States.

Handheld device detects jaundice in newborn babies

In environments where high-end resources are available, there are laboratory devices and accessible techniques to measure total serum bilirubin, these devices have proven to be excessively expensive and complex, making it impossible to execute them in environments with few resources. For example, spectrophotometric techniques to measure bilirubin require a rotator to isolate plasma from whole blood and counteract the impedance of hemoglobin, and also a spectrophotometer: devices that can cost a large number of dollars and are often not accessible in research centers clinic.

Bilirubin levels can also be estimated using mixing methodologies, for example, the diazo strategy, enzymatic determination of fluid chromatography. Reagents and expensive analyzers from the research facilities that are expected to carry out these tests are not accessible in most places with few resources.

On the other hand, the transcutaneous estimation of total bilirubin does not require the collection of blood and has been proposed as an adequate response for environments with few assets. Be that as it may, transcutaneous users are expensive and some require an expensive dispensing alignment standard. Therefore, jaundice is analyzed clinically in most environments with few active in view of the visual evaluation of the yellowish coloration of the skin or the sclera, which lacks precision.

To address this issue a Houston Rice University student team created BiliSpec, a minimal effort, battery controlled per user intended to quickly measure serum bilirubin levels from little drops of entire blood connected to a parallel stream card. Consists of two segments: a horizontal flow separation card to collect a blood drop from the heel, isolate plasma, and balance the sample and a reader to quantify the light transmitted through the plasma on the card and display a computerized report of the convergence of totalseric bilirubin.

Recently, a paper was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in which researchers described the existence of a pilot study to evaluate the accuracy of BiliSpec in the quantification of bilirubin in neonates with the risk of jaundice in Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi. BiliSpec is one part of NEST360°, which is a worldwide undertaking that went for conveying life-sparing advancements for infants to African healing centers.

The examination demonstrated that has a similar precision to the more costly research facility tests found in high-asset settings. Each BiliSpec test costs around 5 pennies and can be performed in around two minutes of comfortable patient's bedside. BiliSpec is one segment of a 17-piece neonatal bundle called NEST, short for Newborn Essential Solutions and Technologies that is outlined particularly for the African healing center.