Point of care testing for pediatric following up of hemoglobin A1C: Concern on product's property

Abstract

Point of care testing (POCT) is a new concept in laboratory medicine. The POCT tool helps perform the laboratory test at site giving fast result and requires only small amount of sample. It is presently and increasingly used in pediatrics. In pediatric diabetology, the use of POCT for following up of hemoglobin A1C is a new concept. At present, there are several POCT tools for this purpose. In this specific article, the author compares on important aspects (turnaround time and required amount of specimen) of 5 available POCT tools for measurement of hemoglobin A1C level. The test that is the fastest and requires the least amount of blood sample, which means the least harm to the pediatric patient is the most preferable. Here, it can be seen that there is no ideal POCT that has both properties. However, if it is standardized to compare the amount of required blood sample, the special concern in the pediatric patients, the product from multiplication shows that Siemen DCA 2000+ and Siemen DCA Vantage are the two most preferable POCT tools for hemoglobin A1C determination in pediatric diabetes mellitus management.