Medical body ICMR develops affordable test kit to diagnose blood disorders

·     Diagnosis can be done within 30 minutes of blood sample collection, bands   detected within 10 minutes of application

·       Haemophilia A and VWD are the most common bleeding disorders

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Haemophilia A

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has developed an affordable test kit for diagnosing common blood disorders such as severe Haemophilia A and Von Willebrand disease (VWD).

The cost-effective point-of-care (POC) rapid diagnostic test kit developed by the ICMR-National Institute of Immunohaematology, Mumbai, is the world’s first POC test for specific diagnosis of any common bleeding disorder. It costs less than ₹50, while other existing diagnostic kits cost between₹4,000 and ₹10,000, the ICMR said on Tuesday.

Haemophilia A and VWD are the most common bleeding disorders. Globally, the incidence of Haemophilia A is 1 per 10,000 male births, and that of VWD is around 1% of the general population. Though there is no epidemiological data for India, estimates suggest 80,000-100,000 severe Haemophilia cases. However, the total number of registered cases with Haemophilia Federation India (HFI) stands at around 19,000.

Lack of awareness, lack of diagnostic facilities and high cost of tests contribute to under-reporting of bleeding disorders in India, the ICMR said.

Patients with severe Haemophilia A or VWD can have life-threatening spontaneous or post-traumatic bleeding, including brain haemorrhage and gastrointestinal bleeding, or may even lead to bleeding in joints or superficial bleeding from the nose or gums.

“In an emergency medical setting, it is important to have a quick diagnosis of bleeding disorders with specific products like the blood components or commercially available factor concentrates, which are exorbitantly expensive. Both Haemophilia A and VWD are under-diagnosed disorders in our country. There are only a handful of comprehensive diagnostic centres for bleeding disorders," the ICMR said in a statement.

“This rapid test kit can be used for the diagnosis of undiagnosed patients/menorrhagia cases/post-partum haemorrhage, gynecological complications with bleeding history, recovery of factors in transfused Haemophilia A patients and for differential diagnosis of Haemophilia A and VWD."

According to the ICMR, the diagnosis can be done within 30 minutes of blood sample collection. The bands are visually detected within 10 minutes of sample application. The kit is composed of special paper membranes, which have different components attached on it, for detecting target molecules.

The POC kits can be used by primary healthcare centre staff, the ICMR added.

Source: https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/icmr-develops-affordable-test-kit-for-blood-disorders-1557845145469.html