Racer's Page

Hey there again Racer,
Check this link out:
White Paper on Accuracy
The manual is here:
Manual
I got the accuracy specs from the German literature (from Roche) I got whilst being trained on the CoaguChek. I cannot find it anywhere online... :(
all the information you should need will be here though:
Roche Diagnostics USA
Hope that this helps!
r

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The important link is here:
CoaguChek - I have only gone so far as the splash screen so that you can get all of the different points of view about the product. Philips and INRatio also do self testers and if you do a search in Google for 'INR self testing' you can go to their websites.
hope that this helps!
r

i had a type I aortic dissection which basically mashed up my aortic valve - so my replacement valve is the aortic. My actual valve is a Conduit Medox model 514, diameter 27mm - buggered if I can find any information on it at all online...
My therapeutic range for INR is between 2.5 and 3.0 and I test myself using a CoaguChek XS testing machine from Roche Diagnostics. Maybe it is different here in Germany but my consultants and my GP were all in favour of me testing myself. There are apparently comfort issues if you are permanently taking blood from a vein and worst case it can lead to the collapse of the vessel. That was how it was sold to me, anyhow.
My friend who had her deep vein thrombosis, which resulted in a pulmonary embollism, only has to thin her blood for a year, but she managed to talk her doctor around and now has a CoaguChek herself. She is an American and, luckily for her I suppose, got the CoaguChek on Workers' Comp after a 3 month 'battle' with the government (her employer).
There are accuracy issues because you are getting the blood out of a capillary instead of from the vein, so you really need to be quick with the "prick, squeeze and dab". Like all things there is an accuracy range associated with the test strips (between 2.0 and 3.0 it is +/- 0.3 and above 3 it is +/- 0.5). You do still need to have comparison readings every 6 months or so but actually managing your own condition is sometimes an important psychological step along the road to recovery - at least it was for me!
Cost-wise it was something around the 1000 Euro mark which my insurance company here was obliged to pay and I get through a test strip and a needle (lancet) a week. If I miss a tablet or something out of the ordinary happens I measure more often, just to be sure.
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