Medicine

Background
Androgen receptor splice variant 7 (AR-V7) expression in circulating tumor cells
(CTCs) was demonstrated to predict poor treatment response in metastatic castrationresistant
prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients treated with abiraterone or enzalutamide.
Objective
To develop a practical and robust liquid profiling approach for direct quantification of
AR-V7 in peripheral whole blood without the need of CTC capturing and to determine
its potential to predict treatment response in mCRPC patients.

The book “POCT - Patientennahe Labordiagnostik” (Point-of-Care Testing) has finally been released by Springer Heidelberg. (Disclaimer: I contributed to some chapters.) It is already the third edition of this book in Germany but it will be the first to be translated and released worldwide.

Last month a representative of Abbott gave a FreeStyle Libre glucometer for a tryout. The Freestyle Libre consists of a small patch with a microneedle and a readout unit. The microneedle patch has to be applied with a special device and lasts for up to 14 days. Therefore frequent, often painful drawing of capillary blood from the fingertip can be avoided.

In den letzten Jahren wurde die analytische Qualität vieler Point-of-Care Tests kontinuierlich verbessert. Mittlerweile sind diese patientennahen Tests aus dem diagnostischen Leistungsspektrum vieler Labore nicht mehr wegzudenken. Aber eine gute Analytik alleine reicht nicht aus. Während in einem Zentrallabor eine geringe Anzahl gut ausgebildetes Fachpersonal sich mit der Durchführung klinisch-chemischer Analysen beschäftigt, werden Point-of-Care Tests von vielen, sehr heterogenen Anwendern durchgeführt.

Point-of-care testing (POCT) enables health care personnel to perform laboratory medicine tests near the patient. The underlying technology and the range of test parameters available are evolving rapidly. Thus, a series of clinical applications are possible that can shorten the time for clinical decision-making about additional testing or therapy, as delays are no longer caused by preparation of clinical samples, transport, and central laboratory analysis.