Heart failure patients may do home monitoring with paper test strip

May 24 (UPI) -- Scientists have created a new paper test strip to help heart failure patients closely monitor the progression of their disease from home without an office visit.

Currently, doctors analyze antigens called ST2 and BNP to track the progression of heart failure in patients, but that process requires trained medical personnel and intricate laboratory equipment.

Researchers have developed a paper-based test strip that uses just a small blood sample of 10 microliters.

Patients can apply the blood sample to the test strip and a blue dot glows if ST2 is present and a green dot glows if BNP is present, with the color intensifying as concentrations increase, signaling the condition is getting worse.

Patients can upload the results to a smartphone app that analyzes the readout and sends results to the patient's physician who can adjust treatment as needed.

Nearly 6 million people in the United States live with heart failure and about 1 million hospitalizations each year are related to the condition, according to the American Heart Association.

Heart failure refers to the heart not working at full capacity, not that it has stopped working completely. But the condition must be closely monitored to adjust treatment as needed to avoid emergency room visits.

In tests of 38 samples of heart failure patients, results from the test strips showed similar results compared to laboratory techniques.

The study was published in ACS Nano.