Fingerpricks
Monitoring of biologic level of your patient can now be done remotely
To support Therapeutic Drug Monitoring for biologics, Sanquin Diagnostic Services now offers the possibility to determine the biologic level remotely. Using a blood sampling kit your patient can easily take a blood sample at home and sent it back to Sanquin for analysis. Requesting this service and reporting the results are fully integrated into the Electronic Patient Dossier. Home sampling allows perfect timing of sample collection (at through) without the need of your patients to visit the hospital.
More information
How can remote drug monitoring help you?
Find the optimal dose by measuring drug level by revealing both over- and undertreatment at early stages. This can be done before recurrence of clinical symptoms. Furthermore, it is possible to perform fine-tuning of drug dosage or switch to other therapeutics when necessary.
Read more about therapetic drug monitoringAt home collection via Finger pricks
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Step 1: send finger prick kit to patient
When you request the test Sanquin will send a finger prick kit to your patient.
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Step 2: patient performs finger prick @home and sends blood sample to Sanquin
The patient performs the finger prick using a lancet and collection tube according to the instructions that are provided in the kit. The patient returns the collected blood sample directly to Sanquin using the return envelope.
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Step 3: Biologics lab tests the blood sample
Upon arrival in our lab the blood sample is tested using our routine in-house ISO15189 validated assays. The results are reported back to you according to the procedure used for standard venipunctures.
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Patients' experience
In collaboration with academic hospitals we have performed several studies in patients to examine the use of capillary blood sampling.
Healthcare professionals' experience
We developed methods to measure antibody biologics accurately in capillary blood.
Frequently asked questions
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How to request the capillary blood collection by finger prick service for your patient?
To monitor a patient at home you can request a routine diagnostic test combined with finger prick home sampling in your EPD, identical to the system you already use to request a biologic test using venous blood. Test codes for finger prick routine measurement of biologics are listed on our website and are recognized by the F-code (Fingerprick). This service cannot be requested yet by completing and sending this form.
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What’s in the kit?
- an instruction form
- two lancets
- an alcohol swab
- a plaster
- a sterile gauze
- a blood collection tube
- a return envelope (compliant to P650 regulation)
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What will happen after you request capillary blood collection by finger prick for your patient?
Within one working day we will send a finger prick collection kit to the patient’s home address using PostNL. By using the instruction form the patient can perform a finger prick with the lancet to collect at least 8 capillary blood drops in the collection tube. The blood sample is directly send back to Sanquin Diagnostic Services in the return envelope via PostNL post. One day later the capillary blood in the collection tube arrives at the Biologics laboratory of Sanquin Diagnostic Services. Here, the blood sample will be tested using our in-house tests for the routine diagnostic measurement biologics. This is identical to the routine measurements that you normally request in venous blood. Test results will be provided to you using the identical route that is currently used for venous blood measurements.
