The joint research team of Pusan ​​National University and Pusan National University Hospital has developed the world's first microneedle-based painless diagnostic patch to sort out pregnancy toxemia, the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) said.

The patch can diagnose pre-eclampsia rapidly and accurately by detecting infinitesimal biomarkers when attached to the skin for one minute.

Pre-eclampsia is a hypertensive disease that accompanies proteinuria after 20 weeks of pregnancy. However, some patients do not show significant symptoms such as high blood pressure and proteinuria, causing difficulty in diagnosis and missing the treatment period. The most common method for testing pre-eclampsia is through blood sampling. Although the diagnosis is relatively accurate, it causes pain and takes about two weeks or more for analysis.

The patch can detect biomarkers related to pre-eclampsia, which are estradiol, plastic grouse factor, and testosterone, at once. This method improved the accuracy of diagnosis by the level of blood collection, and the results came out in an hour in an animal model.

“It can conduct on-check using portable equipment. The patch can test patients in places where medical treatment is difficult, such as when a non-face-to-face diagnosis is necessary due to new virus infection or in underdeveloped nations,” said Professor Yang Seung-yun of the Department of Biomaterial Science at Pusan National University.

The research was part of the project funded by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and KHIDI. It was published on the May 21 edition of Biosensors and Bioelectronics, a journal of analytical chemistry.