Many medical procedures in use today require a relatively small sample quantity of bodily fluid such as blood for purposes of determining glucose levels. There are a number of home testing kits available for this purpose. Generally speaking, these kits include lancet mechanisms set up so that a lancing medium can make a controlled incision on the skin surface. The skin in the area of the incision is then expressed to obtain a sufficient size blood droplet for exposure to a test strip. In other forms, these devices have a lancing medium that may be needle-like or blade-like in configuration. The lancing medium may be used solely for the purposes of making an incision on the skin or it may additionally contain capillary and other passages to allow the blood to flow to a testing device.
In any event, once an incision has been made, the skin must be manipulated in such a way that an appropriate quantity of blood may be expressed. Typically this has been done by manual compression of the incision site which is a relatively coarse and crude method of massaging the skin for expression. Other approaches involve various forms of vibratory, ultrasonic, thermal stimulation, and mechanical kneading for blood expression. While more effective, these approaches add complexity and cost to the unit.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds