A leading producer and supplier of laboratory equipment, PHC Europe will be showcasing two reagent kits compatible with its PATHFAST™ device at the Analytica Fair & Conference from June 21-24 in Munich.
PATHFAST™ is an analysis system that combines the accuracy of a full-scale laboratory with the flexibility of a compact design and lightweight solution. Easy to operate, install and network, it is highly precise and can process in parallel up to six samples from different patients (or six different parameters from one single patient) per run. It delivers results in less than 17 minutes. The device also has an integrated computer and printer and can be operated via a touchscreen monitor.
The PATHFAST™ can be used to detect cardiac and other emergency parameters by determining the quantity of substances hs Trop I (troponin I), NTproBNP (B-type natriuretic peptide), D-Dimer, hsCRP (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein), Myoglobin, CK-MB mass (creatine kinase-isoenzyme MB), BRAHMS PCT (procalcitonin) and presepsin in a patient’s body with the use of one single whole blood sample in one cartridge solution.
This way, it becomes a basis for safe on-site diagnosis and therapeutic decisions regarding patients with acute coronary syndrome, myocardial injury, suspected coronary heart insufficiency, venous thromboembolism, inflammation and sepsis, for example.
PHC Europe’s reagent kits provide perfectly reproducible results which correlate outstandingly with lab analyses. Below are the descriptions of the two particular products which will be featured at Analytica.
Reagent 1: PATHFAST™ B･R･A･H･M･S PCT
Procalcitonin (PCT) is a biomarker used to diagnose bacterial infections and, more specifically, patients with sepsis—an extreme and life-threatening body response to an infection.
Under normal circumstances, plasma PCT concentrations in a person’s blood are below 0.05 ng/ml. In patients with sepsis, severe sepsis or septic shock, however, this number can increase up to 1,000 ng/ml.
PCT levels are low in viral infections, chronic inflammatory disorders or autoimmune processes—which explains why this substance is used to distinguish bacterial infections from these other situations.
By performing in vitro quantitative determination of PCT concentration in whole blood, plasma or serum, the PATHFAST™ B･R･A･H･M･S PCT reagent kit helps with the early detection and differential diagnosis of clinically relevant bacterial infections—as in the assessment of the degree of septic severity. It is also useful in antibiotic therapy-related decisions (or, in other words, the necessary and optimal duration of antibiotic therapy).
Reagent 2: PATHFAST™ hs-cTnI
Reagent kit PATHFAST™ hs-cTnI is a chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay (CLEIA) for quantitative measurement of cardiac troponin—a cardiac enzyme released in myocardial injury. It can detect with high accuracy and precision even very low concentrations of troponin levels released by ischemia or micro-necrosis, at the earliest point of time. It even allows for detection and quantification of normal troponin levels in healthy individuals.
Using anticoagulated whole blood and plasma, the PATHFAST™ hs-cTnI fits the recommendations by the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidelines for early detection of Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) and risk stratification of patients with acute coronary syndrome.
As a matter of fact, ESC recommends the use of PATHFAST™ hs-cTnI for early rule-in and rule-out of AMI and to differentiate patients suffering from this condition from those with non-coronary artery cardiac diseases. Even small changes which happen for a short period of time can be accurately detected, in a way that allows doctors to differentiate acute disease from chronic states.
