Combining urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) with serum creatinine (sCr) as a clinical diagnostic test for acute kidney injury (AKI), may improve patient management and reduce hospital costs as delays in diagnosis and treatment as well as unnecessary testing in patients given a false positive AKI diagnosis by use of sCr alone is avoided.
This is the conclusion in an article on the economic benefits from combining NGAL and sCr in AKI diagnostics in the emergency department, which has been published by PLOS Medicine Journal on May 19, 2017, by a group of 12 leading international experts.
The article is based on a cost simulation model on 10,000 patients to determine the total expected cost for patients with AKI based on real data collected at Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) and the Allen Hospital of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital (AH-NYPH).
The model shows that adding NGAL results is an overall cost reduction per patient of $408 to $522 due to faster diagnosis and treatment, and lower hospitalization costs per patient.
The lead author, Dr. Amay Parikh, Critical Care Director at Florida Hospital added, “Our paper shows that NGAL can be used to avoid delays in diagnosing AKI, initiating treatment, and performing unnecessary testing in patients. Limiting ourselves with just creatinine is outdated.”
“NGAL has already been demonstrated to be an early biomarker of AKI enabling physicians to deploy AKI care algorithms earlier than sCr alone” Dr. Barasch added. “Using both NGAL and sCr will greatly improve diagnostic accuracy, and reduce overall per patient costs 10-15%. The healthcare economic impact of such an approach is an extremely important component of healthcare management today,” he concludes.
Mr. Peter Mørch Eriksen, CEO of BioPorto, commented: “The results of the study clearly links both improved clinical and economic outcomes with the use of NGAL. BioPorto will continue to focus hard on obtaining FDA approval of The NGAL Test™ in 2018, and realize the future value-creation potential of our technology.”
The full article can be found here
For further information, please contact:
Peter Mørch Eriksen, CEO
Telephone 45 29 00 00
About BioPorto
BioPorto Diagnostics A/S is an in-vitro diagnostics company that provides healthcare professionals in clinical and research settings a range of diagnostic tests and antibodies. Our pioneering product portfolio includes assays for underserved disease states such as NGAL for acute kidney injury. BioPorto has its headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark and is listed on the Nasdaq Copenhagen stock exchange.