One of the possible effects of chemotherapy is the suppression of the immune system. As a result, even a mild illness can put patients at risk of developing a condition called neutropenic sepsis (NS), a life-threatening medical emergency. If patients have any signs of an infection, they have to be rapidly brought to hospital to undergo a blood test. While the healthcare team awaits results for 1-2 hours, the patient is given intravenous antibiotics as a precaution, because delays to treatment increase the risk of death. However, around 50% of these patients brought into hospital turn out not to have NS – and therefore did not need to attend hospital or have antibiotics.
 
With NeutroCheck®, we want to give patients back some peace of mind. To achieve this, we are developing a fast, reliable and low-cost device to test for NS symptoms at home, improving patient safety and quality of life, reducing antibiotic wastage, and empowering doctors to treat their patients efficiently.

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