All you soon need for a blood clotting test at home is a smartphone, a small silicone cup and a drop of blood. Yes, really! Researchers from the University of Washington have developed an affordable micro-mechanical blood clotting test whose results correlate strongly with those of clinical-grade coagulation analyzers. Patients with mechanical heart valves, atrial fibrillation, and genetic mutations have a high risk of blood clotting.
They need the administration of anticoagulation drugs like warfarin to prevent blood clotting. However, warfarin can produce adverse effects. Therefore, effects of such medication should be monitored by measuring prothrombin time (PT, time takes blood to clot) or international normalized ratio (INR, a formula to compare a PT test with different PT tests to get a standardized result). However, for PT/INR testing, a patient has to visit the laboratory…
