#ISTAT HEMOGLOBIN PORTABLE#

The I-Stat System, using just a few drops, eliminated the need for transfusions.Įxactly how much less expensive the I-Stat System is to use than traditional laboratory-based blood analyzers is still a matter of debate. Traditional analyzers require test-tube-sized samples, meaning the small patients need frequent transfusions. Wenk, head of clinical pathology, spent several months analyzing its performance in the neonatal intensive-care unit, where babies in need of regular blood tests were helped by the I-Stat's small appetite.

At Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, for example, Dr. Studies of the I-Stat System at several hospitals nationwide have been encouraging. If the I-Stat System is deemed cost-effective, he said, 'we will work with I-Stat to launch this technology into all the V.H.A. is about to embark on another study, using three hospitals, to compare indirect costs and other factors. vice president of business and technology development. compared the performance of I-Stat System with that of lab-based analyzers in two hospitals and found 'the results were very comparable,' said Keith Harville, V.H.A.

#ISTAT HEMOGLOBIN PORTABLE#

I've not heard that any hospital said no to the product, which I believe is significant.'Īmong the hospitals most interested in portable equipment for blood testing and the like are those belonging to the Voluntary Hospitals of America Inc., an alliance of more than 650 locally owned not-for-profit hospitals and more than 190 affiliates, based in Irving, Tex. Handley says, the biggest challenge facing I-Stat next year 'is likely to be to avoid back orders by maintaining production ahead of demand. Handley's estimates are nearly identical. In 1994, she projects revenues of $78 million and earnings of $1.25 a share. She said the company is likely to post a net loss of 34 cents a share next year, down from a projected loss of $2 per share this year. Rizopoulos projects the company's 1993 revenues at $30 million, up from perhaps $1 million this year.

Handley, a research analyst with Smith Barney in New York.Ībaxis Inc., based in Mountain View, Calif., is working on a portable, although not handheld, blood analyzer expected to give results on 13 kinds of tests in 10 minutes the company hopes the device will enter clinical tests later this year and be on the market by late next year at a price of less than $8,000.Įstimating that 50 to 60 sites will buy I-Stat machines this year, and perhaps 600 next year, Ms. 'Several companies have attempted to adapt their technologies to the growing demand for point-of-care blood analysis,' said Stephen L. Those who follow the huge and growing market for diagnostic equipment say no other blood analyzer so far is as fast or as small as I-Stat's. Test results can be sent to a personal computer or printed out. The computer converts the electrical impulses into data that is displayed on the screen. The cartridge contains biosensors that have been fabricated onto silicon chips, which react electrically to the elements in the blood under test. About the size of a cellular telephone and weighing only 16 ounces, the I-Stat System is made up of a handheld computer and a disposable 6+ cartridge that attaches to it.

Istat hemoglobin