searching for a listing of home testing kit options

[mitchner9g]

Hello comrades - My name is Adam, and I'm new to anticoagulation therapy after getting two new On-x valves in my pulmonary and aortic outflow tracts last month. I am keen on managing my INR with self testing and am looking for a listing of the various manufacturers of home testing kits.

Please excuse my redundancy if a thread has already been posted apropos to this topic, but I could not find one using the forum search tools. I'm mainly looking for a comprehensive listing of manufacturers. I'd also like to see a comparative study showing how closely these machines match lab testing, but realize that's probably not terribly likely

Here are the ones I've found so far, do you have any others that I'm missing?

Many thanks for your feedback.

• HemoSense INRatio http://www.hemosense.com/patient/inratio2.shtml
  
• Roche Coagucheck XS https://www.poc.roche.com/poc/rewrite/generalContent/en_GB/article/POC_general_article_147.htm
  
• ITC ProTime http://www.protimesystem.com/index.html
  
• Philips INR@Home http://www.inrselftest.com/content/ (Philips appears to be a service provider, as opposed to a device manufacturer -- they actually seem to send the ITC ProTime meter above to the customer and handle all the home testing results/training as a service)
  

 

[Freddie]

It looks like you have them all.

You may want to try Google POC - Point of Care Units, which is sometimes the name the monitors go under.

Good luck

 

[Protimenow]

Mitch:

You don't have them all. Philips INRAthome is a service that provides you with a meter.

You're missing the ProTime meter. It takes longer to get a result than the InRatio and InRatio2 or the CoaguChek XS and requires more blood than these meters, but is still available from ITC (the manufacturer of ProTime), and is still being supported by them. There's a new ProTime meter being developed that may be submitted to the FDA for approval and, from what I hear, it'll give Roche and Hemosense a run for their money -- if they haven't already lost the market to these companies.

Depending on which research paper you read, each meter is fairly accurate. Each meter has quality controls built in. The CoaguChek XS reportedly gives higher values than lab tests for INRs about 3.5 or 4; the ProTime 3 is reportedly pretty close to the lab results, and I'm not sure about any significant errors for the InRatio.

One of the things that many on this forum are saying is to choose a meter, learn it, use it - and after you're comfortable with it, you'll be able to see pretty quickly if your values go far out of range.

 

[mitchner9g]

Hi Protimenow - Thanks for your input!

I agree: Philips INR@Home is more a service than an actual equipment seller, however I don't want to exclude them from my list given they do meet my broad criteria for supporting self testing at home.

I did some poking around for the ITC ProTime meter you discuss. I'll update my list in the original post of my thread with the link. Just to be clear, are these the folks you are referring to? link:

http://www.protimesystem.com/index.html

I did a little more sleuthing and to my surprise they site Philips is an authorized distributor for the device:

http://www.protimesystem.com/pat_coverage.html

Not sure what to think of this...I'll have to follow up with philips on Monday to clarify what their relationship is to ITC, but it sounds like Philips just uses the ITC equipment for their service...

Thanks for adding to the discussion!

Adam

Mitch:

You don't have them all. Philips INRAthome is a service that provides you with a meter.

You're missing the ProTime meter. It takes longer to get a result than the InRatio and InRatio2 or the CoaguChek XS and requires more blood than these meters, but is still available from ITC (the manufacturer of ProTime), and is still being supported by them. There's a new ProTime meter being developed that may be submitted to the FDA for approval and, from what I hear, it'll give Roche and Hemosense a run for their money -- if they haven't already lost the market to these companies.

Depending on which research paper you read, each meter is fairly accurate. Each meter has quality controls built in. The CoaguChek XS reportedly gives higher values than lab tests for INRs about 3.5 or 4; the ProTime 3 is reportedly pretty close to the lab results, and I'm not sure about any significant errors for the InRatio.

One of the things that many on this forum are saying is to choose a meter, learn it, use it - and after you're comfortable with it, you'll be able to see pretty quickly if your values go far out of range.

 

[Bina]

Mitch:

You don't have them all. Philips INRAthome is a service that provides you with a meter.

You're missing the ProTime meter. It takes longer to get a result than the InRatio and InRatio2 or the CoaguChek XS and requires more blood than these meters, but is still available from ITC (the manufacturer of ProTime), and is still being supported by them. There's a new ProTime meter being developed that may be submitted to the FDA for approval and, from what I hear, it'll give Roche and Hemosense a run for their money -- if they haven't already lost the market to these companies.

Depending on which research paper you read, each meter is fairly accurate. Each meter has quality controls built in. The CoaguChek XS reportedly gives higher values than lab tests for INRs about 3.5 or 4; the ProTime 3 is reportedly pretty close to the lab results, and I'm not sure about any significant errors for the InRatio.

One of the things that many on this forum are saying is to choose a meter, learn it, use it - and after you're comfortable with it, you'll be able to see pretty quickly if your values go far out of range.

No way. *****This "guess" of 3.5--4.0 is completely false.****
A reading of 3.5 and even 4.0 is bang on accurate or within the .2 variance allowed
Most of the home monitors, including the Coaguchek XS will recommend a lab test if the
home monitor gives a reading above 5.0
They are not capable of reading extremely high INRs with the same accuracy as a lab test.

 

[Protimenow]

Bina -- the reports I have seen reported some overstating of values - and I thought the overstatement started at around 3.5 - 4. I'll have to double check the reports that I've seen.

Mitchner9G - yes, I believe that's the correct site for the ProTime meter. ITC is supposed to have a stronger market for the ProTime meters in Europe than they have here in the U.S. I wouldn't be surprised if Philips offers the ProTime 3 in addition to the InRatio and the CoaguChek XS.

My assumption is that Philips (and probably Alere) purchase the meters from the manufacturers and then send them out to their clients. Philips can probably afford to purchase the meters (especially if they buy a lot of meters and negotiate the best price) and send them to customers. After a year or so providing testing, the meters are probabl paid for and the rest of the fees to them are mostly profit.

You can probably get a meter made by any of the three manufacturers, from Philips. They may try to steer you to one particular meter - for one reason or another - but if you asked for a particular meter, they may accommodate your request.

I'm certainly NOT recommending ANY meters here. Others on this forum may be more comfortable recommending one against another.