Integrated Lancet Test Strip for Sterile Blood Sampling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current diagnostic testing systems for monitoring blood glucose levels in diabetic patients require multiple components, including a lancet, meter, and test strips, which are inconvenient, prone to misplacement, and less sanitary due to reusable lancets that can become dull and cause more pain.
Innovation Solution
Integration of a lancet within a test strip, with an actuation mechanism in the analyte meter to extend and retract the lancet for blood collection, reducing the number of components and ensuring a sterile, sharp lancet for each use.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If separate lancet, meter, and test strip components are used, then each component can be optimized independently, but the number of components increases making the system cumbersome and prone to misplacement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the lancet, meter, and test strip into a single integrated device. The lancet is housed within the test strip structure, and the meter is integrated with the test strip assembly, allowing all three previously separate components to function as one unified unit. This merging eliminates the need for patients to carry and manage multiple separate items.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated device performs multiple functions within a single structure: the lancet provides blood sampling capability, the test strip provides analyte detection functionality, and the meter provides data processing and display. This multi-functionality consolidates what were previously three separate single-function devices into one versatile unit that handles all blood glucose monitoring tasks.
2Quantity of substance
If reusable lancets are used, then cost is reduced, but sanitation is compromised and lancets become dull causing more patient pain
Solution Approach 1:
The integrated device incorporates a disposable lancet that is discarded after single use. This eliminates the need for cleaning and sterilization of reusable lancets, ensuring maximum sanitation for each patient. The disposable nature also guarantees that each lancet is sharp and free from wear, preventing patient pain while maintaining cost-effectiveness through low-cost disposable construction.
3Adaptability or versatility
If three separate components are carried, then each component can be specialized, but convenience is reduced due to the need to carry and manage multiple items
Solution Approach 1:
By merging the lancet, meter, and test strip into one integrated device, the patent eliminates the burden of carrying and managing three separate items. Patients no longer need to remember to bring multiple components or worry about losing individual items, significantly improving daily convenience while maintaining all necessary monitoring capabilities.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The integrated system provides a more convenient, sanitary, and user-friendly method for blood glucose monitoring with fewer components, ensuring a sterile lancet for each use and reducing patient discomfort by eliminating the need for reusable lancets.
Implementation Method 1
a lancet actuated by the analyte meter to pierce a patient's skin at the opening to collect a sample of blood
Implementation Method 2
The glucose specific enzymes may cause a reaction between glucose in a sample and various chemicals on a test medium, thereby producing an electrical signal that can be measured with the one or more electrodes
Implementation Method 3
Some glucose test strips include electrochemical components, such as glucose specific enzymes, buffers, and one or more electrodes
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides methods and systems to collect blood from a patient using a lancet integrated with a test strip. The present disclosure provides integrated test strips having an integrated lancet, as well as meters for actuating the lancet integrated within a test strip. The analyte test strip comprises a first test strip substrate material and a second test strip substrate material. At least one test strip substrate material comprises an elongate cavity. The test strip further comprises a reaction test site for testing analyte concentrations in blood. The test strip further comprises at least one opening communicating with the at least one cavity.