KEY POINTS:
Doctors in New Zealand will soon have the option to test a patient's haemoglobin level without taking a drop of blood.
Non-invasive and continuous total haemoglobin monitoring technology uses a finger sensor to measure a person's haemoglobin or red blood cell levels.
It could alert clinicians more quickly to internal bleeding or anaemia and provide more efficient management of blood transfusions.
Until now the only way to test haemoglobin levels was to insert a needle into a vein, draw blood and have it analysed.
New Zealand distributor Jan Smeath, of ProMed Technologies, said the potential for the American technology, about to be launched here, went beyond emergency and operating situations.
For instance GPs would be able to instantly assess if a patient was suffering from anaemia and also save haemophiliacs from incessant and at times painful blood tests.
Current methods of measuring haemoglobin levels required a needle stick to draw a blood sample, which was then sent to a laboratory to analyse before the results were reported back.
That method was intermittent and only offered delayed snapshots of haemoglobin levels at a particular point in time, resulting in diagnosis and treatment delays.
Starship's paediatric anaesthetist Bryan Hodkinson said the technology was potentially life-saving and would be particularly useful for children.
"When you're dealing with a small child who only has about a teacup of circulating blood volume, you can't afford to have hidden blood loss."
The technology has been registered for use in New Zealand by MedSafe and will be presented to clinicians at meetings in Auckland and Wellington this week.
How it works: A sensor is slipped onto a patient's finger and multiple wavelengths of light and advanced signal processing algorithms identify and quantify haemoglobin in the blood. Blood measurements are then displayed on a monitor.
Haemoglobin is the iron-containing respiratory protein in red blood cells responsible for transporting oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. Haemoglobin levels indicate the blood's ability to carry oxygen and iron.
A low haemoglobin level is called anaemia, which can indicate a variety of serious medical conditions that require immediate treatment.
Chronic anaemia can be due to something as simple as an iron deficiency or more serious like cancer or internal bleeding.
