2025 · Clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine · paywalled
Blood self-sampling devices: innovation, interpretation and implementation in total lab automation
Poland & Cobbaert
The finding, in our words
The authors observe that self-sampling devices for capillary blood are gaining traction as a patient-preferred alternative to venous collection, with one centre reporting a 15 percent reduction in laboratory test volumes when local collection was offered. They argue that successful integration into total laboratory automation requires addressing cost, transport regulations and sample volume adequacy while ensuring robust device design and seamless workflow compatibility.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
This proof-of-concept study demonstrated that patients with inflammatory bowel disease could successfully perform capillary blood microsampling at home with high analytical success rates, and a majority preferred this decentralised approach over hospital venous draws.
Schuurman et al., Inflammatory bowel diseases · source ↗
In a cohort of 62 participants evaluating home self-collection with the TassoPlus device, 38 returned samples, with 29% excluded due to insufficient plasma volume below 200 ΔL. Although viral load measurements in adequate samples correlated well with conventional testing (r = 0.800), the high failure rate and missed detection in low-volume viremic samples indicate that further technical refinements are necessary before clinical adoption.
This meta-analysis found strong agreement between self-collected capillary blood and venous samples for laboratory results. Capillary sampling was associated with significantly lower pain scores than venipuncture, particularly when using upper arm devices rather than fingerprick methods.
Schröder et al., Clinical biochemistry (paywalled) · source ↗
Self-collected capillary samples showed good agreement with venous samples for most safety monitoring parameters in patients with rheumatic disease, although platelet counts were less reliable and haemolysis affected some biochemistry results. Patients found the self-sampling process easy and virtually painless, suggesting it is a feasible option for decentralised monitoring.
Adelhelm et al., Scandinavian journal of clinical and laboratory investigation (paywalled) · source ↗