Biopool Says Study Praises Embolism Test Kit

Biopool International in Ventura says that trials at the Mayo Clinic show that the company’s Minutex D-dimer test kit can save time and money, avoid invasive testing and improve patient outcomes in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism, an often lethal disease resulting from the occlusion of blood vessels leading from the lungs to the heart.

The study, published in the March issue of “Archives of Pathological Laboratory Medicine,” says that “current diagnostic tests for pulmonary embolism are complex, time-consuming, expensive, potentially hazardous, and often unavailable. Moreover, only about one third of patients with suspected pulmonary embolism are ultimately proved to be affected.”

However, the researchers, who evaluated Biopool’s test kit as well as three other commercially available kits, concluded that with D-dimer testing, “additional diagnostic testing potentially could be avoided in 17% to 33% of patients with suspected acute pulmonary embolism.”

The Minutex kit, currently one of Biopool’s largest-selling products, is designed to rapidly detect elevated levels of fibrin D-dimer in plasma, a key indicator of thrombotic disorders such as pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis.