2026 · The journal of applied laboratory medicine · paywalled
Evaluation of an Upper Arm Capillary Blood Collection Device Compared with Venous and Fingerstick Sampling
Beal et al.
The finding, in our words
In 43 healthy volunteers, upper arm capillary sampling with the ImPress device demonstrated strong analytical agreement with venous blood for 13 of 16 routine chemistry and lipid analytes, with correlation coefficients of at least 0.90. The method produced minimal haemolysis, achieved mean pain scores of 0.55 on a 0–10 scale versus 2.61 for venepuncture, and was preferred by 74% of participants, supporting its potential for decentralised testing.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
At-home volumetric absorptive microsampling (VAMS) for anti-seizure medicines was feasible and reliable, with strong correlations to clinic VAMS and low bias for lacosamide, lamotrigine and levetiracetam; quantitative dried blood spot (qDBS) was a reliable alternative in the ambulatory setting, though older age reduced sampling quality.
Cancellerini et al., Epilepsia (paywalled) · source ↗
The study found that quantitative dried blood spot sampling provided high clinical agreement for tacrolimus and creatinine monitoring, with patients rating the self-collection devices as user-friendly. These results support the feasibility of decentralised therapeutic drug monitoring for immunosuppressants.
De Baets et al., Clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine (paywalled) · source ↗
Volumetric microsampling can enable patient-centred therapeutic drug monitoring with high patient preference and acceptable method validation for many drugs, but conversion from capillary to plasma and agreement with venous sampling varies by analyte and requires careful validation.
Tummala et al., Journal of clinical pharmacology (paywalled) · source ↗
Capillary fingerstick sampling showed high correlation and agreement with venous sampling for serum AMH but with proportional bias, so it may improve access to testing yet should not be considered fully interchangeable without further validation.
Lavadia et al., Clinical and experimental reproductive medicine (paywalled) · source ↗
Capillary blood collected with Tasso+ devices demonstrated strong agreement with venous blood for primary Athlete Biological Passport markers (haemoglobin, reticulocytes, OFF-score, ABPS) with correlations ≥0.9, though platelet count showed poor concordance. Despite 44 of 209 samples failing pre-analytical checks mainly due to coagulation, high athlete acceptance and minimal pain support capillary sampling as a less invasive, viable alternative for decentralised anti-doping controls.
Requena-Tutusaus et al., Medicine and science in sports and exercise (paywalled) · source ↗