Technological advances in bedside monitoring: biosensors.

The need to monitor certain key biochemical parameters in hospitalized patients is driving the development of biosensors, a new class of medical device for real-time, on-line quantitative analysis. A biosensor is a microelectronic device that utilizes a biological molecule (eg, antibody, enzyme, or receptor) as the sensing or signal-transducing element. Biosensors can be configured into simple, rapid, and cost-effective laboratory devices that will allow the clinical pathologist to become even more responsive to the primary care physician. In those instances where measurements on discrete samples do not provide the required information, continuous monitoring with implantable biosensors could provide real-time data on levels of critical endogenous or exogenous substances. By hybridizing recent advances in transdermal substance collection with the analytical capabilities of biosensors, devices for continuous noninvasive monitoring at the bedside can be envisioned. The clinical pathologist can and should play a key role in the clinical evaluation and implementation of such technological advances.