Review—Point-of-Care Urinalysis with Emerging Sensing and Imaging Technologies

Abstract

Urine testing is a powerful clinical diagnostic tool. The noninvasive collection of samples and wide range of diagnostic targets found in urine makes urinalysis well suited for point-of-care (PoC) monitoring applications. Complete urinalysis testing faces many limitations due to the large quantity of samples processed, the time required for testing, and the labor involved in sample preparation and processing. Development of PoC urinalysis devices with microfluidic technology can enable the detection of infections and monitoring of chronic disease while reducing the demand on testing facilities. In this article, current approaches in clinical urinalysis are reviewed. Emerging sensing and imaging technologies specifically suitable for point-of-care examination of urine samples are discussed with an outlook on the future of point of care urinalysis devices as well as emerging applications enabled by these technologies such as in situ monitoring of Activities of Daily Living (ADL).