Aletta, the first robot for automatic blood collection, is tested in a hospital. Development developers claim that it will be an innovative solution in medical technology, which will increase patient comfort and reduce hospitals' expenses.
Blood harvesting will enter a new era. Photo: freepik.com
Blood harvesting could be achieved in the future with the help of robots. A device called Aletta, developed by a Dutch company, could radically change the way this medical procedure is done.
How Aletta works
Northwestern Medicine, a hospital in the United States, will premiere the robot capable of identifying the vein, introducing the needle and collecting blood without human intervention, a procedure that will take a few minutes, during which patients will not see the needle and blood, informs medicalxress.com.
The device automates the entire harvesting process. Uses infrared light to locate veins. Then spray alcohol to disinfect the area and, with the help of a robotic arm equipped with an AI Doppler ultrasound, select the ideal vein and position the needle. Aletta introduces the needle, harvested the blood into the tubes, and in the end apply a patch.
“All this system ensures a very high accuracy and reliability, and due to this accuracy, any pain or discomfort associated with a classic blood collection is greatly reduced.” states Bob Gerberich, the commercial director for North America of the Dutch company Vitestro, who created the device called Aletta.
According to her developers, Aletta has a success rate of 95 percent at the first attempt, almost zero incidents of hemolysis (degradation of red cells), and the whole process takes several minutes. It is already approved in Europe for patients over 16 years old, and Vitestro now wants the FDA approval for the US.
The creators of the robot that harvest blood promise savings for hospitals
Northwestern is one of the three US centers participating in the clinical study, and the other two hospitals involved in tests have not yet been revealed. Aletta could reach Northwestern next year, Gerberich said.
“Each medical system involved in the study will receive several Aletta devices for a fixed period, after which they will be moved to other testing places. The purpose is to obtain evaluations on the use of the device in the USA and to demonstrate how they perform”, explained Toon Overbeeke, CEO and co-founder of Vitestro.
Representatives of Northwestern Hospital hope that the device will allow the quality of blood samples to be maintained, in the context of a continuous crisis of employees in this sector.
“We don't have enough people to harvest blood so I had to look for a solution”, Said Dr. Gregory Retzinger, medical director at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
The producer company announces that it has not yet been set how much the device will cost once it is available in the US. But it estimates that the use of the Aletta robot will bring significant savings to the hospitals. Only one employee, trained in the operating of the device, will be able to supervise up to three devices simultaneously, her representatives shows.
