Device Measures Hematocrit Through the Skin

A new device that measures the hematocrit in blood without a painful needle stick is designed for use by blood collectors to measure a blood donor's hematocrit prior to donation to confirm the level of red blood cells.

The device, called Crit-Scan, has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Every blood donation must be preceded by a hematocrit scan, usually made by a needle stick to a finger or ear. Since some would-be donors cite a needle stick as a reason not to donate blood, the developers of Crit-Scan believe blood collectors may use the device as a donor recruitment tool.

Crit-Scan was developed and is manufactured by Hema Metrics Corp. (Kaysville, UT, USA) and is being marketed by Haemonetics Corp. (Braintree, MA, USA). Haemonetics has signed an agreement with Hema Metrics for exclusive worldwide marketing, effective for five years.

"The technology has demonstrated excellent results in quality and user-friendliness in our initial field evaluation tests,” said Mark Popovsky, M.D., corporate medical director for Haemonetics. "We plan to introduce the technology in late summer in the United States and Europe this year, with expansion into Japan to follow.”




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