A fully integrated prothrombin time test on the microfluidic disk analyzer.

A fully integrated prothrombin time test, which is capable of measuring the time required for blood to coagulate, is presented in this study. The microfluidic functions integrated on the microfluidic disk were able to extract the plasma from whole blood samples and conduct rapid mixing within 1 second. The factors which affected the plasma decanting mechanism were investigated. The complete fluidic design was applied to prothrombin time tests. Ninety-two whole blood clinical samples were tested by the microfluidic disk analyzer and the Sysmex CA1500 coagulation analyzer, which is the instrument used in medical centers. The test results from these two instruments showed good correlation and agreement.