Patent attributes
A reagent cuvette has a first chamber with an inspection part and a socket, and a second chamber. The socket has four spikes at its base. Both chambers are sealed with a membrane. At the point-of-care the foil membrane of the first chamber is peeled away by the therapist (typically general practitioner doctor). A sample, such as blood, is added to the chamber using a pipette or other device to provide a verifiable quantity of sample. This provides a mixture of a buffer reagent supplied in the chamber and the sample injected into the inspection chamber at the point of care. The chamber is then inserted into the socket by gently pressing it down so that its foil membrane is broken by the spikes. This causes the starter reagent to drop down from within the second chamber into the inspection part of the first chamber. The inspection part is then inserted into an optical inspection instrument for analysis of the two reagents and the sample mixed together.
