Continuous blood sampling and monitoring

For many routine or research investigations in medicine repeated blood samples of ambulatory subjects or animals are necessary for obtaining hormonal or metabolic profiles. However, the necessity of the presence of skilled medical staff for drawing the blood samples can be limiting factors in these studies. The aim of this project was to develop a portable device for continuous fractionated blood sampling and continuous ex vivo monitoring using flow chamber with biosensors in the sampling line. The fabricated sampling device is based on a double lumen catheter for extracorporeal blood heparisation and an automatic fluid sampler. The double lumen catheter is placed in a peripheral vein and the inner lumen is then connected to a 10 ml syringe containing heparin solution. The outer lumen is linked to a roller pump with programmable speed. A needle which can be moved in two directions supplies 56 vacuum tubes with the collected blood.