Immunology testing helps doctors to prioritize patients over ventilators

A new immune test launched in India could ease the bottleneck of the country's healthcare infrastructure by helping doctors prioritize hospital admission and intensive care beds, and with the increase in cases in India in the recent wave of Corona, there is a scramble towards ICU beds and ventilators. The pictures also showed people standing for long hours to obtain these basic services.

In light of experts' warnings about future waves of the disease, it may be wise to pay attention to some research projections that estimate the potential requirements of nearly 270,000 ICU beds, much more than 2.8 times the total estimated number of ICU beds available in India.

According to the "thehealthsite" report, a large proportion of these people may need more ventilators, and this puts an insurmountable amount of pressure on limited resources given that the flow of patients to hospitals is manifold, but what if doctors could prioritize patients?

Prioritize patients for ventilators

 

Recently, a medical technology company announced a technology that could help identify people with coronavirus at increased relative risk using mechanical ventilation (IMV) and deaths, in conjunction with clinical and other laboratory test results.

And Becton and Dickinson have launched a validated immunoassay to help clinicians prioritize intensive care beds and ventilators.

As India continues its battle with this unprecedented healthcare crisis in the wake of the second wave of the Coronavirus, the application of an IVD test based on immunological assessment among Corona patients, could dilute the already stifled healthcare infrastructure in the country by prioritizing hospitalization. And ICU beds for those at higher relative risk to request ventilator support, and increased risk of death, by providing a deeper understanding of immune responses.

How to take the test

The test is performed on a clinical flow cytometer available in major hospitals across India, so in the current scenario of the Corona crisis, this information can provide doctors with a deeper understanding of the patient's immune status.