Development of the NeutroCheck medical device for use in chemotherapy patients at risk of neutropenic sepsis

中性粒细胞减少性脓毒症（NS）是一种危及生命的医疗紧急情况，发生在接受化疗的患者中。NS的发生是因为化疗可能会抑制免疫系统，如果患者在此期间发生感染，即使是轻微的疾病也可能是致命的。延迟使用抗生素会增加死亡的风险。被抑制并导致NS的关键血细胞是一种称为中性粒细胞的白色血细胞。因此，如果一个正在接受积极化疗的病人在医院外有轻微的感染迹象，国家指南规定他们必须被带到医院进行血液检查，以检查他们的中性粒细胞计数。当医疗团队等待1-2小时的结果时，患者会静脉注射抗生素作为预防措施，以防中性粒细胞减少，因为治疗延迟会增加死亡风险。大约一半的患者被送到医院，结果证明中性粒细胞计数正常，因此不需要去医院或使用抗生素。这花费了医疗保健提供者的时间和资源，并且可能对患者造成压力。2018年，仅在英国，就有大约3500万英镑浪费在这些不必要的就诊上。NeutroCheck正在开发一种变革性的新型医疗设备，以切实改善患者护理和医疗资源管理，包括财务和人力。创新的侧流设备被设计为便携式和易于使用，并将在病人的家中使用，以提供一个几乎即时的测量病人的中性粒细胞计数使用血液从一个小针刺。我们的重点是生产一种快速，可靠和低成本的设备，以提高全球癌症患者的安全性和生活质量。它将使在医院外诊断为NS的患者能够更快地接受抗生素治疗（例如，通过护理人员），同时减少抗生素耐药性，并每年为NHS等医疗机构节省数百万英镑，从而大大减少医院就诊。

Neutropenic sepsis (NS) is a life-threatening medical emergency that occurs in patients having chemotherapy. NS occurs because chemotherapy may suppress the immune system and if patients develop an infection during this time, even a mild illness can be fatal. Delays to antibiotic use increase the risk of death.The key blood cell that is suppressed and leads to NS is a type of white blood cell known as the neutrophil. Consequently, if a patient on active chemotherapy has even mild signs of an infection outside of a hospital environment, national guidelines state they must be brought into hospital to have a blood test to check their neutrophil count. While the healthcare team awaits results for 1-2 hours, the patient is given intravenous antibiotics as a precaution in case they have low neutrophils, because delays to treatment increase the risk of death. Around half of these patients brought into hospital turn out to have a normal neutrophil count and therefore did not need to attend hospital or have antibiotics. This costs the healthcare provider time and resources, and can be stressful for the patient. In 2018, in the UK alone, around £35 million will have been wasted on these unnecessary visits.NeutroCheck is developing a transformative new medical device to provide tangible improvements in patient care and healthcare resource management, both financial and human. The innovative lateral flow device is designed to be portable and easy-to-use and will be used in the patient's home to give a near-instant measure of the patient's neutrophil count using blood from a small pin-prick. Our focus is to produce a fast, reliable and low-cost device which would improve safety and quality of life for cancer patients worldwide. It will enable patients diagnosed with NS outside of hospital to receive antibiotics more quickly (e.g. via paramedics) whilst reducing antibiotic resistance and saving healthcare institutions such as the NHS millions of pounds each year from substantially reducing hospital visits.