 |
| Xprecia Stride Coagulation Analyzer--Courtesy of Siemens |
Siemens has launched its Xprecia Stride Coagulation Analyzer to enable rapid decision-making in physician offices and clinics regarding patient treatment with oral anticoagulation therapy warfarin. The vitamin K antagonist is routinely used to prevent clot formation caused by certain heart conditions, such as atrial fibrillation or heart attack, or during open-heart surgery.
The analyzer conducts rapid, reliable Prothrombin time testing (PT/INR); this gives the doctor an idea if the warfarin is working effectively with a properly prolonged coagulation cascade and clot inhibition. Periodic use of the test enables physicians to maintain the proper balance between preventing clots and causing excessive bleeding.
"The Xprecia Stride Coagulation Analyzer is among the most radical, user-friendly redesigns of a point-of-care coagulation analyzer since they became widely available more than 20 years ago," said David Stein, CEO of Siemens Diagnostics Point of Care Business Unit, said in a statement. "Our analyzer is designed to be safer, more efficient and more ergonomically friendly than the products available today."
The Xprecia Stride analyzer works with a finger stick to use whole blood. Results are expressed as either in PT second or as a PT/INR (international normalized ratio). It also integrates a bar-code scanner for results and accurate calibration of new lot numbers prior to testing. The device includes a spring-loaded eject button to remove a used test strip without touching it.
Xprecia Stride isn't available for sale in the U.S. It received a CE mark in December 2014 and was developed in partnership with Australian point-of-care diagnostics specialist Universal Biosensors.
More than 800 million PT/INR tests will be administered worldwide this year as part of therapy monitoring for patients with conditions such as atrial fibrillation, open and minimally invasive heart valve replacement, deep vein thrombosis and congenital heart defects, according to the company.
"Unlike our previous coagulation point-of-care analyzer, the Xprecia Stride analyzer does not place any limits on us as to the kinds of patients that can be tested," said hematologist Dr. Maria Labrador of Hospital Cruz Roja in Cordoba, Spain, where the Xprecia Stride analyzer is currently being used to test patients on a daily basis, in a statement. "We test around 50 patients a day for PT/INR using the Xprecia Stride analyzer and we have been happy with the results from the very beginning."
- here is the release