A novel gadget to help minimise the time cancer patients spend in the hospital has received regulatory clearance.
The Liberty lets patients to take blood tests and upload the results from home, without supervision.
Its customers believe it helps them avoid exhausting hospital trips, while physicians think it might enhance NHS productivity.
Following a trial at the Christie in Manchester, the gadget will now be deployed at 12 NHS institutions.
However, Cancer Research UK claims it has only been tested on a limited number of patients. According to the foundation, additional research is needed to see whether it can be used more extensively in cancer care.
Cancer treatment entails a battery of blood tests to check various health markers such as haemoglobin levels and total white blood cell count.
Lynn Thompson, who has been battling ovarian and bowel cancer since 2017 and was one of the trial participants, said being able to do some of those tests at home was a huge relief.
“To be completely honest, I fell in love with the machine. “It was so simple to follow and use,” the 52-year-old explained.
She said it freed her from a rigid schedule of hospital visits, which she found physically and mentally demanding, especially given her phobia of needles.
“By the time I got to the chair in the blood room, I was probably going to faint, which had a knock-on effect of making me feel pretty bad all day.
“The machine removed all of that; it’s just a simple finger prick that doesn’t hurt.” There is no worry or anxiety because it is only a little bit of blood that is tucked away.
The gadget, the size of a tiny printer, can send blood sample analysis immediately to medical personnel.
Sacha Howell, a senior professor in medical oncology at the University of Manchester, said that moving blood testing from hospitals to patients’ homes was not only more convenient for patients, but it might also save the NHS money.
The Christie, one of Europe’s top cancer treatment institutes, has recently placed phlebotomy equipment across the region in an effort to bring “bloods closer to home.”
“But it still means we have to staff those units, in order for the patients to be able to have the blood tests,” said Dr. Howell.
“If the patients were able to simply do them themselves at home, that would result in significant efficiencies.”
Trials at The Christie have generated encouraging outcomes, despite the low patient numbers.
Lynn and 22 other patients took part in a home study, which was supplemented by regulatory approval studies involving 470 people.
According to Cancer Research, the low statistics called for caution.
“It is very early days” for this technology, and “further research is needed,” according to the statement.
“The regulatory approval does not give indications of effectiveness or clinical utility at this stage – those questions would need to be addressed in future clinical trials of the device before it could be used more widely,” it stated.
Entia, the CEO of the entity that develops it, is optimistic about what he claims is the world’s first blood count analyzer that patients can use at home.
“By providing insights into patients’ health status, the device empowers healthcare professionals to pre-emptively address complications, reducing hospitalisations and treatment interruptions,” said Dr. Toby Basey-Fisher.
Source: Shiona McCallum,Technology reporter, BBC
