![]() ![]() These samples - a few drops of blood - are 30 to 100 times smaller than your standard blood draw. ![]() You can also use blood from a finger prick, also known as a capillary sample, for testing, but it can be more difficult. Most diagnostic tests use the liquid portion, meaning that only half of a standard sample is usually used for testing. This gives lab technicians plenty to work with, and doctors can even request additional tests after a sample is taken.Ībout half of blood is made up of red and white blood cells, while the other half is liquid. Each tube collects between 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of blood, and the technician will fill one to several tubes during the draw, depending on the number of tests your doctor ordered. When you get blood tests done, the technician uses a needle to draw blood from a vein in your arm into a blood collection tube. Similarly, process in blood testing is evolutionary, rather than revolutionary. “The drive trains haven't changed, and the tires haven't changed,” he says. While the automotive industry has developed hybrids and electric vehicles, the foundations of a car have remained the same. Unlike the world of computing technology, where one breakthrough can revolutionize the entire field, progress in blood analysis is steadier and slower, like the automotive industry, Campbell says. “It was like saying you could build a flying car that is also a submarine, for the same price as an entry-level Toyota,” says Sheldon Campbell, MD, PhD, a professor of laboratory medicine at Yale School of Medicine. What came as a shock for Silicon Valley and the investment world was no surprise to those in the blood testing industry. The microwave-sized machine that supposedly could run these tests, dubbed the “Edison,” simply did not work. What’s more, Theranos said dozens of tests could be run on one drop of blood alone, and these tests would cost a fraction of traditional lab work.īut famously, Theranos’s house of cards came tumbling down. With a trip to a local pharmacy, someone could get testing done without getting blood drawn and receive the results in hours, rather than days. Their claim was revolutionary: Using blood from a finger prick, they could run over 200 different tests. 25, 2021 - Once valued at over $9 billion dollars, it seemed like Theranos was going to change the world of routine blood testing.
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