Royal Philips has launched its new handheld blood test, the Minicare I-20, for quickly diagnosing a heart attack at the scene of the event.

The device works by measuring the the level of cardiac troponin I (cTnI), which is a protein that the heart muscle excretes into the blood after a heart attack. It's able to generate test results in less than 10 minutes at the point of care, with results that are comparable to those from lab testing.

The system — which is currently only available in certain European countries — is made up of a handheld analyzer, software and a single-use, disposable cartridge that contains an application-specific test based on Philips' proprietary biosensor technology.
It can often take more than an hour to test blood samples in the lab and get the results back to the emergency department physician. With the new system, the physicians can determine the appropriate treatment pathway much faster, and hopefully reduce crowding in the emergency department.

The Minicare I-20 system is the first product to be developed through the company's new business development programs that focus on point-of-care testing and monitoring applications for the hospital, at the patient's home.

It was studied in real-life acute care settings as part of the European Lab2Go project, which is a consortium of European hospitals. The study found that the system can accurately measure cTnI values near the patient in the emergency department in less than 10 minutes.

The Minicare I-20 analyzer and Minicare cTnI test cartridges are currently only available in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K.

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