Advances in monitoring of cardiovascular diseases at the point of care

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death globally. Most of them are preventable and treatable, which largely depend on timely and effective diagnosis and interventions. Owing to the rapid growth of nanotechnology and microfluidics, many portable devices are developed for monitoring of CVDs at the point-of-care (POC). In addition, smartphone, as a popular and versatile handheld tool, has been used not only as a reader for microfluidic assays, but also as an analyzer for physiological indexes. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the current status and potential development of POC diagnostics for CVDs, introduce some commercial POC devices and developed prototypes, and present the advances in the monitoring of CVDs based on the smartphone independently or combined with other devices. We envision that an integrated system based on smartphone that enables blood testing, disease examination, and imaging will be the focus of future POC research.