Roche announced the CE mark availability in Europe of Roche v-TAC, a new digital diagnostic solution that allows clinicians to obtain results for arterial blood gas values from patients with respiratory or metabolic abnormalities via a less invasive venous puncture, as opposed to an arterial blood sample, the company said in a news release.
Blood gas analysis provides clinicians with information about a patient’s pulmonary function and acid‐base status. A traditional blood gas test requires the collection of an arterial blood sample, which can be a painful experience for the patient since most arteries lie deeper in the tissue than veins and have a thicker wall to be punctured. This procedure is usually carried out by medical doctors or trained staff.
Through the Roche v-TAC digital solution, staff without specific training to draw arterial blood samples are now able to withdraw a venous blood sample instead and digitally convert these values into arterial blood gas values, which can help free up specialist healthcare staff to do other tasks.
Roche’s v-TAC is fully integrated for use with Roche’s cobas b 123 point-of-care (POC) and cobas b 221 systems using the Roche cobas infinity POC solution, the company said.
Roche acquired the v-TAC technology at the end of March with the acquisition of Obi Medical Aps, a privately held company based in Hadsund, Denmark, that focuses on developing disruptive blood gas testing technology.
