CardioChek ST Analyzer Problems? - High Cholesterol Message Board

thylantyr · 09-20-2006, 12:45 PM

What is the verdict on this machine in regards to accuracy
and consistency in the readings?

We just purchased this machine for cholesterol and blood
sugar testing and this will be our 3rd time using it, each time the readings are completely wacko.

I can post the data later, but I'm curious on what your
experience with this machine is. Either this machine isn't
very good, we have a broken machine, or we are doing something wrong during the test.

1st time - Patient fasted, used the 'One Touch' blood sugar
monitor, then CardioChek ST, then went into the hospital
for complete blood work labs.

We compared this data. The 'One Touch' monitor that
we've been using for blood sugar testing is pretty accurate
and consistent in the readings. The CardioChek reading was
in the 30 range {should be 160 - 180 range}.

CardioChek ST cholesterol scores were not even in the same ballpark as the hospital labs.

2nd time - We tried the test 2 weeks later and the CardioChek blood sugar level readings were better,
but much lower than 'One Touch' monitor. The Cholesterol
levels were consistent amongst each type of test, but overal much lower than the hospital labs.

3rd time - After the second time using CardioChek, we waited 4 days to redo the tests again to correlate the data.
The same procedure is being used in every test; ie fasting overnight, doing the test in the morning, same everything.
Some of the cholesterol level readings are wacko vs. 4 day ago.

We are going to do another test this Saturday to get more data, but it seems to me that something is wrong,
the CardioCheck is not reading accurate, not reading consistent over a short span of time and we are doing the
same procedure every time.

Data;

9/8/06;
Glucose: Hospital Lab: 185 | CardioChek: 34 | One Touch: 187
Cholesterol: Hospital Lab: 198 | CardioChek: <100
HDL: Hospital Lab: 36 | CardioChek: <25
Triglyceride: Hospital Lab: 302 | CardioChek: 120
LDL: Hospital Lab: 101 | CardioChek: 51

9/10/06;
Glucose: CardioChek: 163 | One Touch: 167

9/16/06;
Glucose: CardioChek: 145 | One Touch: 173

9/20/06
Glucose: CardioChek: 190 | One Touch: 201
Cholesterol: Hospital Lab: 198 | CardioChek: <197
HDL: Hospital Lab: 36 | CardioChek: 29
Triglyceride: Hospital Lab: 302 | CardioChek: 197
LDL: Hospital Lab: 101 | CardioChek: 128.6

Issues are:

1. On 9/8/06, the CardioChek data is wacko. Even the simple glucose test is so wrong.
2. On 9/10/06, only glucose test was done and the numbers look correct.
3. On 9/16/06, the CardioChek is ready too low.
4. On 9/20/06, the CardioChek data is pretty good except the Triglyeride reading is wacko which causes LDL to be wrong too.

We will do two more tests to correlate data. I'm not looking for absolute numbers per se, I'm looking for numbers that
are consistent so we can track the patient's 'delta' for future treatment plans.

Lenin · 09-21-2006, 06:15 AM

On issue #4, how much time elapsed between the triglyceride Cardio-Check and the hospital blood draw?

I have no personal experience but two people on these boards some time ago got good consistency with cardio check but neither was interested in glucose levels.

I smell an inconsistency: Do you realize that the hospital values for the two lipid draws are IDENTICAL? Did you do a big typo or is it possible that the lab sent you back the wrong results, i.e., another copy of the SAME results from the early draw? Probability of IDENTICAL values for all readings 12 days apart is vanishingly small.

thylantyr · 09-21-2006, 11:09 AM

The hospital lab was only done one time, on 9/8/06.

I just copied that data into the other date fields for
comparisons.

I will know more as the week progresses. I'm in the process of 100% ruling out human error first,
as I'm suspicious that this machine may be very sensative to procedure.

Lenin · 09-22-2006, 06:47 AM

My guess too.

I think there was a learning curve operating causing a wrecked set of readings on 9/8 but a valid set on 9/20.

thylantyr · 09-23-2006, 02:39 PM

Today's data;

One Touch blood sugar: 207
CardioChek blood sugar: 193
CardioChek cholesterol: 198
CardioChek blood HDL: 35
CardioChek triglyceride: 247

The problem is now narrowed down on the consistent whacko triglyceride readings.

That 247 number is too weird {hosiptal score = 302}, the previous reading from 3 days ago was 197, then going further back the reading was 274.

We redid the trig test 2 times today, minutes apart and
got very disturbing numbers.

First trig test today: 247
Second trig test minutes later: 164
Third trig test minutes later: 117

I have ruled out human error so there is three more
variables that can cause these very strange numbers.

A. The CardioChek monitor we have is defective.
B. The CardioChek monitor doesn't work for trig testing.
C. The test strip samples we bought are ALL defective.