Kidney Function Panel Developed for Imaging and Radiology Centers

Abaxis, Inc. (Union City, CA, USA), a medical products company manufacturing point-of-care (POC) blood chemistry analysis systems, has developed the Kidney Check Panel to be used in conjunction with the Piccolo xpress point-of-care analyzer. This panel contains creatinine (CRE) and urea nitrogen (BUN). As a result of prior U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance on these two analytes, the panel is released as a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988- (CLIA)-waived panel.

"Many contrast mediums currently used during an MRI procedure in the outpatient setting can have an adverse effect on the kidneys. The ability to check kidney function prior to and in some cases post MRI enables the radiologist to rapidly assess the risk level of each patient. In recent months, the FDA has released black box warnings on some of these gadolinium-based contrast agents,” stated Dr. Dennis Bleile, director of assay performance and compliance for Abaxis.

"The Kidney Check Panel provides a critical solution for the rapid, on-site classification and triaging of MRI patients,” commented Rick Betts, Abaxis' director of marketing. "We believe this latest CLIA-waived offering answers a significant need for the imaging and radiology market by providing a simple, fast, and accurate chemistry solution for on-site kidney function analysis. We also believe the Kidney Check Panel will help increase the efficiency and reduce the risks for our imaging and radiology center customers.”

Abaxis develops, manufactures, and markets portable blood analysis systems for use in any veterinary or human patient-care setting to provide clinicians with rapid blood constituent measurements. The system consists of a compact, 5.1-kg portable analyzer and a series of single-use plastic discs, called reagent discs that contain all the chemicals required to perform a panel of up to 13 tests on veterinary patients and 14 tests on human patients. The system can be operated with minimal training and performs multiple routine tests on whole blood, serum, or plasma samples. The system provides test results in less than 12 minutes with the precision and accuracy equivalent to a clinical laboratory analyzer.


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