The New Frontier of Medical Testing

As the world becomes even more automate, The clinical use of noninvasive methods for laboratory investigation is becoming increasingly common, from the simple and easy to use Pregnancy test kit, blood pressure test kit, blood sugar test kits to the advanced genetic and parental test kits which are all easily available to the public directly bypassing a doctor.

Few years back it took close to a week to diagnose the simplest health challenge, making work in the hospital setting really slow and strenuous. These challenges posed serious treat to the lives of patients and portrayed the health sector as inefficient and ineffective.

In recent times, however, we have seen the invasion of clinical laboratory procedures by simple and easy to use testing kit, providing better precision as well as reducing the risks associated with the use and practice of invasive methods producing results in record time.

In the same vein, as most Test Machines and procedures required to perform investigations in a laboratory having been taken over by varieties of test kits in the market today, plasma also has been in some cases been replaced as choice specimen for investigation.

Although these new methods of investigation having made prediction of illness and susceptibility to ailment easier and quicker to detect.

In situation like Cardiovascular Diseases the case has remains the same as diagnosis and testing rely on the most part on very invasive techniques to investigate, most of which are strenuous, can be time consuming and poses further health risk to patients.






Symptoms associated with Cardiovascular diseases are very evasive and difficult to investigate especially in the early stages of manifestation, making detection and diagnosis almost useless. it is usually deadly at the time when it becomes apparently symptomatic, Diagnosis at this point results to management.

Many Invasive methods currently in use approach this by investigating for predisposing factors instead, more like second guessing. Apart from been stressful and expensive, invasive approach does not, as in the many cases show if a patient would eventually come down with any Cardiovascular disease, it only access the possibilities and does not provide convincing evidence that a patient case would actually develop to the stage were diagnosis is essentially needed, setting off a fire alarm unnecessarily.

Only recently, researchers at Cleveland Clinic's Respiratory Institute studying the molecular patterns in breath, designed a non invasive techniques for testing . They developed a Breathalyzer, that can detect most of the common cardiovascular diseases.


WHAT IS IN YOUR BREATH

There is so much more than oxygen and carbon dioxide in our breath, ‘’Everything in the blood that is potentially volatile comes up in the breath,’’ said Dweik a Pulmonologist at the Clevland Clinical Respiratory institute.

From the past decade , Dweik has been studying the molecular patterns in the breath that can reveal what’s happening inside the body. From his research he found out that anything in the body that is eventually in the blood can be measured in the breath that’s including many cardiovascular diseases and disorders.

In conjunction with engineers at NASA, Dweik is working on a theory that everyone has their own personal print, a “breath print” they called it.
Think of it as Breath Testing device that can detect diseases rather than just alcohol, solving the problem associated with detecting asymptomatic C V disorder, cheaper and less invasive.

So far researchers have been able to detect asthma, diabetes, liver disease and kidney diseases from breath test. Most significantly there where able to detect a unique breath pint for acute decompensated heart failure , using breath test, raising the hopes for early detection of terminal heart diseases.

HOW THIS WORKS

Breath is collected by newly developed breath test kit, The specimen is filtered through a mass – spectrometer. The Mass - Spectrometer identifies the amount and type of chemical present in the breath, looking at the combination of different molecules providing a scence of what ‘s going on in the body. This is based on the concept that certain cardiovascular diseases studies shows to include lung cancer presents a really distinct signatures in the breath, Scientist discovered.

A test that could be as easy as breathing, so poses no risk. it can be repeated, presents no complications to patients, a non-invasive procedure revolutionizing diagnosis, the new frontier of Medical testing.

In future it is hoped that this technique would be implored in areas were invasive procedures have proven to be slow and ineffective as seen in the screening of athletes, where invasive techniques have prove to be evasive.

On the spot testing with immediate result. The big difference here includes: a change in the specimen to be used in carrying out this investigation, another is mobility, as testing would not have to be constrained to a laboratory plus it can be repeated easily, with  little or no stress to the Patient involved. it has also seen consistency in result produced putting this procedure ahead of  many invasive techniques.