This new device can provide personal tests for heart medications

Whenever a medical condition concerning blood clotting presents itself, the last concern any person wants to add to the situation is doubts about their medications. But with all the ways people vary from each other, like age, race, and gender, there is no guarantee that any medicine regimen will suit each and every factor.  With nearly 10 percent of Americans taking medicines to reduce the risk of heart attack, it is important to find an effective method for each patient.

This device has already helped to determine that aspirin is not as effective in reducing or preventing blood clots in patients with narrowed arteries.

To begin to work with this issue, researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a prototype microfluidic device to test medications based on a patient’s blood. The device will use a sample of the patient’s blood in artificial arteries to examine exactly how it will work for a patient.

This personalized device, in addition to helping save lives, would also reduce healthcare costs by giving doctors the ability to accurately prescribe medications, without trial and error.

“These microfluidic devices are so cheap and require so little blood that it could become possible for someone to use this in a disposable, rapid way,” said Craig Forest, an assistant professor of bioengineering in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech.

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