Credit score: Bart van Overbeeke
What if we might monitor sufferers sooner or later with out taking blood samples each time? TU/e researcher Sophie Adelaars investigated a promising different: measuring biomarkers in sweat and saliva. In Might 2025, she defended her thesis on the Division of Electrical Engineering.
Adelaars carried out her analysis in collaboration with Philips and the Catharina Hospital, as a part of a world consortium. The undertaking focuses on creating a sensor that measures biomarkers—concentrations of varied substances—in sweat. Primarily based on these measurements, we might monitor sufferers’ well being standing and illness development.
“This method can offer great advantages over traditional blood sampling, as it’s less invasive and doesn’t require medical personnel for collection,” she says. A sweat sensor, which sufferers can put on on their pores and skin 24/7, has the potential to constantly—and even remotely—monitor their well being.
Seize and analyze
“Sweat normally comes out only in small amounts, so it’s not easy to collect it,” Adelaars explains. “That’s why we use pilocarpine—a substance that stimulates the sweat glands—to locally generate more sweat. We can then collect and analyze that.”
This technique is not fully new. Twenty years in the past, for instance, it was already used to measure chloride concentrations in infants as an indicator of elevated threat of cystic fibrosis. Later, nonetheless, these sweat measurements have been changed by DNA testing.
“The idea of sweat testing has been around for a while and technically it’s possible, but in medical practice it’s not used for anything,” says the Ph.D. candidate.
Saliva
Along with sweat, Adelaars examined one other bodily fluid that can provide us invaluable data: saliva. Saliva can also be simpler to gather than blood, though there are some snags. “Things like oral health or food particles can influence the measurement results,” she says.
“That’s why we established a protocol. The patients weren’t allowed to eat, drink, or brush their teeth for half an hour before the measurement.” To gather saliva, the affected person should chew on a cotton ball for a minute. The cotton ball is then centrifuged and the saliva collected.
Cognitive testing
Along with sweat and saliva assessments, Adelaars additionally investigated how cognitive testing can present a greater understanding of a affected person’s situation.
She targeted particularly on the function of the BAMCOG check—a playful and patient-friendly screening instrument that assesses cognitive functioning—as a predictor for the chance of postoperative delirium (POD).
POD is an acute state of confusion that may happen after surgical procedure. Though short-term, it’s a critical complication, particularly in aged or weak sufferers. Signs range between people and may simply go unnoticed by medical employees.
“By performing cognitive testing beforehand, we can identify which patients are at higher risk and anticipate accordingly,” explains Adelaars.
Sufferers with kidney failure
Adelaars began her analysis by analyzing saliva and sweat to search out out precisely what substances they include.
“You have to consider two things: what you can measure in the lab—the concentrations have to be high enough—and what may be clinically relevant to certain diseases,” she explains. Primarily based on these standards, she chosen numerous biomarkers that she investigated in larger element in additional research.
Two of those are urea and creatinine—each waste substances which can be usually filtered out of the blood by the kidneys and are subsequently vital indicators of kidney operate.
“In patients with kidney failure, the kidneys cannot properly dispose of these substances and dialysis takes over that function. Using a device connected to a blood vessel, waste products are filtered out of the blood.”
The identical patterns
“So before this treatment, the concentrations of these biomarkers in the blood are very high, and afterwards they’re very low,” she explains. “By measuring the concentrations in sweat and saliva before and after treatment, we wanted to find out if they follow the same patterns.”
Her research utilizing the info of actual sufferers reveals that the concentrations of urea and creatinine in each sweat and saliva do fall in an identical approach as in blood. “This is a very important finding, because it shows that these measurements can be clinically relevant,” Adelaars emphasizes.
Distant care
“Now that we’ve discovered this, we can hopefully monitor these patients better and intervene more quickly when necessary. That way we could prevent patients from becoming dependent on a dialysis machine. Because once that happens, it’s hard to get off it again.”
A wearable system that takes measurements instantly—for instance, a sticker on the arm, much like the glucose meters for diabetes sufferers—might considerably enhance distant care.
To realize this, an excessive amount of further analysis, improvement, and testing is required. Not solely do varied biomarkers require additional research, but it surely’s additionally essential to develop correct measuring gadgets and combine distant monitoring into current care pathways. “A lot is still open,” says Adelaars.
Nonetheless, she’s satisfied that it is price exploring this course additional.
“Technology is developing rapidly. We’re getting more and more wearable devices that can take all kinds of measurements. And with an increasing aging population and pressure on the care system, it’s important that we have the ability to monitor more people in their homes.” She says noninvasive strategies current a promising answer on this respect.
“Measurements in sweat and saliva aren’t only less stressful for the patient, but can also contribute to future-proof health care.”
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Eindhoven College of Know-how
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Sweat and saliva testing as a substitute for blood sampling (2025, Might 16)
retrieved 17 Might 2025
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