Intelligent NFC potassium measurement strip with hemolysis check in capillary blood

Frank Sinner,Philipp Greiner,Carolin Kollegger,Inge Siegl,Martin Wiessflecker,Bruna Pekec,Martin Hajnsek,Bernd Deutschmann,Christoph Steffan,Gerald Holweg

doi:10.1007/s00502-017-0572-5

Abstract

130 million people in Western Europe and the USA suffer from chronic cardiac degeneration or kidney insufficiency. The medical treatment requires a routine medical examination accompanied by laboratory blood analyses. This is cost-intensive for the health care system and also time consuming for the patients. This paper presents an economical, wireless sensor node solution in terms of an intelligent near field communication (NFC) potassium measurement strip (NPMS) usable in a home environment. The NPMS comprises two different electrochemical sensors for the acquisition of two parameters in capillary blood and an autonomous sense and identification grain (ASIG) for the electrical analysis, communication, and data transfer. The ASIG is equipped with an integrated amperometric and potentiostatic functionality, radio frequency identification (RFID) interface for high frequency (HF)/NFC, and has been designed using a 130 nm CMOS standard process. It facilitates the implementation of two different measurement techniques, which are necessary for the accurate determination of the potassium concentration in capillary blood, whereby the occurrence of hemolysis can be detected. This NPMS impresses with its large scale integration and is solely powered by the NFC reader device.

Highlights

The leading cause of death in the United States and worldwide is cardiovascular disease, which is responsible for great human suffering and enormous healthcare costs [1]
This paper presents an intelligent near field communication (NFC) potassium measurement strip (NPMS) with hemolysis check in capillary blood
2.1 General description of the system The intelligent NPMS consists of an ion-selective electrode (ISE) sensor, an autonomous sense and identification grain (ASIG) and an antenna for communication

Summary

Introduction

The leading cause of death in the United States and worldwide is cardiovascular disease, which is responsible for great human suffering and enormous healthcare costs [1]. The American Heart Association seeks to prevent such diseases effectively by recommending various effective measures for maintaining a heart healthy. These include regular exercise, heart-healthy diets, and the cyclical control of blood parameters [2]. Hemolysis can occur during a blood extraction, which leads to a falsified measurement result. The large quantity of released potassium can falsify the result of the potassium amount in blood plasma. To avoid such negative effects the blood sample taking needs to be performed by healthcare professionals in a laboratory environment with measurement equipment such as e.g. Reflotron® Plus

Kollegger et al Intelligent NFC potassium measurement strip

Concept of the intelligent NPMS

Ion-selective sensors

ASIG measurement principle for potassium and hemolysis detection

Measurement procedure and results

Conclusion