A prototype microfluidic device is being tested at Georgia Tech for its ability to evaluate the effectiveness of anti-clotting drugs.
The device was used in a study involving 14 participants and simulated blood flowing through narrowed coronary arteries to judge the success of aspirin and other drugs, according to R&D Magazine.
The study was sponsored in part by the American Heart Association and was published in the journal PLOS One. Researchers found that while aspirin can prevent blood clots in some patients, it may not be as effective in patients with narrowed arteries, CNET reported.
"Doctors have many drug options and it is difficult for them to determine how well each of those options is going to work for a patient," said Melissa Li, a grad student at George Tech during the study. "This study is the first time that a prototype benchtop diagnostic device has tried to address this problem using varying shear rates and patient dosing and tried to make it more personalized."
Almost 10 percent of the U.S. population takes drugs each day to reduce their risk of a heart attack, R&D Magazine reported. Doctors provide different treatment options, each with different choices for action, prices and time scales, for patients with heart disease.
Craig Forest, an assistant professor of bioengineering in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, led the study with his lab and worked with David Ku, a medical doctor and mechanical engineering professor at Georgia Tech.
"For a patient being prescribed anti-thrombotic drugs who is at risk for a heart attack, we can draw a small amount of their blood and quickly push a little bit through the device, and based on that information, tell them to take a certain amount of a certain drug," Forest said. "That's where we're going with this project."
Before the device can be used at hospitals, the study must be replicated on a bigger scale, CNET reported. Being cheap and requiring only a small amount of blood are additional benefits of the device. One researcher said these benefits will help the device eventually be used as a quick and disposable test.
