Menstrual Blood Testing Technology Eliminates Need for Finger Prick or Lab Blood Draw
|
By LabMedica International staff writers Posted on 11 Jan 2024 |

Traditional methods of blood testing require invasive procedures administered by medical professionals, and can be time-consuming as well as expensive. Not everyone has the time, access, and financial means to get laboratory results for blood work, however, billions of women globally have their period every single month. Until now, menstrual samples had never previously been explored as a diagnostic source for health information. Now, for the first time, a safe and simple technology allows menstrual blood samples to be used as an alternative to traditionally collected venous blood draws. This breakthrough provides an opportunity for testing important biomarkers for millions of menstruating women across the world.
Qvin (Menlo Park, CA, USA) has proved the clinical relevancy of menstrual blood for several important biomarkers. The company’s Q-Pad technology uses menstrual blood to gain health insights in a non-invasive, convenient manner and can be used for testing anywhere in the world. The Q-Pad was initially created to identify biomarkers for HPV and has expanded and identified additional biomarkers to test for, including pre/diabetes, anemia, fertility, perimenopause, endometriosis, and thyroid health. Each Q-Pad includes a removable strip; once the Q-Pad has sufficiently collected a menstrual sample, the removed collection strip is sent to a CLIA-Certified (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) laboratory for clinical testing. Users receive their results via the free and convenient Qvin app.
Q-Pad allows specimens to be submitted directly to the lab and receive reports on key health conditions that often go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed including pre/diabetes, anemia, fertility, perimenopause, endometriosis, and thyroid health. For instance, women seeking to understand their fertility status can soon monitor various reproductive hormones via menstrual blood using the Q-Pad. Qvin also offers the A1c Q-Pad Test Kit which measures the average blood sugar over a three-month period by testing the A1c biomarker for people with diabetes. Qvin, in collaboration with researchers at academic institutions, has published peer-reviewed research validating other biomarkers that can also be monitored. Both the Q-Pad and A1c Q-Pad Test Kit have received US FDA clearance.
"With the first ever FDA-cleared menstrual blood health test, Qvin is paving the way to important new opportunities for women's health and this is just the beginning," said Dr. Sara Naseri, Qvin Co-founder. "We are simplifying routine testing, and freeing up resources that can be used on providing care and ultimately our goal is to make health care much more accessible."
Latest Clinical Chem. News
- Chemical Imaging Probe Could Track and Treat Prostate Cancer
- Mismatch Between Two Common Kidney Function Tests Indicates Serious Health Problems
- VOCs Show Promise for Early Multi-Cancer Detection
- Portable Raman Spectroscopy Offers Cost-Effective Kidney Disease Diagnosis at POC
- Gold Nanoparticles to Improve Accuracy of Ovarian Cancer Diagnosis
- Simultaneous Cell Isolation Technology Improves Cancer Diagnostic Accuracy
- Simple Non-Invasive Hair-Based Test Could Speed ALS Diagnosis
- Paper Strip Saliva Test Detects Elevated Uric Acid Levels Without Blood Draws
- Prostate Cancer Markers Based on Chemical Make-Up of Calcifications to Speed Up Detection
- Breath Test Could Help Detect Blood Cancers
- ML-Powered Gas Sensors to Detect Pathogens and AMR at POC
- Saliva-Based Cancer Detection Technology Eliminates Need for Complex Sample Preparation
- Skin Swabs Could Detect Parkinson’s Years Before Symptoms Appear
- New Clinical Chemistry Analyzer Designed to Meet Growing Demands of Modern Labs

- New Reference Measurement Procedure Standardizes Nucleic Acid Amplification Test Results
- Pen-Like Tool Quickly and Non-Invasively Detects Opioids from Skin
Channels
Clinical Chemistry
view channel
Chemical Imaging Probe Could Track and Treat Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer remains a leading cause of illness and death among men, with many patients eventually developing resistance to standard hormone-blocking therapies. These drugs often lose effectiveness... Read more
Mismatch Between Two Common Kidney Function Tests Indicates Serious Health Problems
Creatinine has long been the standard for measuring kidney filtration, while cystatin C — a protein produced by all human cells — has been recommended as a complementary marker because it is influenced... Read moreHematology
view channel
Platelet Activity Blood Test in Middle Age Could Identify Early Alzheimer’s Risk
Early detection of Alzheimer’s disease remains one of the biggest unmet needs in neurology, particularly because the biological changes underlying the disorder begin decades before memory symptoms appear.... Read more
Microvesicles Measurement Could Detect Vascular Injury in Sickle Cell Disease Patients
Assessing disease severity in sickle cell disease (SCD) remains challenging, especially when trying to predict hemolysis, vascular injury, and risk of complications such as vaso-occlusive crises.... Read more
ADLM’s New Coagulation Testing Guidance to Improve Care for Patients on Blood Thinners
Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are one of the most common types of blood thinners. Patients take them to prevent a host of complications that could arise from blood clotting, including stroke, deep... Read moreImmunology
view channel
New Test Distinguishes Vaccine-Induced False Positives from Active HIV Infection
Since HIV was identified in 1983, more than 91 million people have contracted the virus, and over 44 million have died from related causes. Today, nearly 40 million individuals worldwide live with HIV-1,... Read more
Gene Signature Test Predicts Response to Key Breast Cancer Treatment
DK4/6 inhibitors paired with hormone therapy have become a cornerstone treatment for advanced HR+/HER2– breast cancer, slowing tumor growth by blocking key proteins that drive cell division.... Read more
Chip Captures Cancer Cells from Blood to Help Select Right Breast Cancer Treatment
Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) accounts for about a quarter of all breast cancer cases and generally carries a good prognosis. This non-invasive form of the disease may or may not become life-threatening.... Read moreMicrobiology
view channel
Rapid Diagnostic Test Matches Gold Standard for Sepsis Detection
Sepsis kills 11 million people worldwide every year and generates massive healthcare costs. In the USA and Europe alone, sepsis accounts for USD 100 billion in annual hospitalization expenses.... Read moreRapid POC Tuberculosis Test Provides Results Within 15 Minutes
Tuberculosis remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, and reducing new cases depends on identifying individuals with latent infection before it progresses. Current diagnostic tools often... Read more
Rapid Assay Identifies Bloodstream Infection Pathogens Directly from Patient Samples
Bloodstream infections in sepsis progress quickly and demand rapid, precise diagnosis. Current blood-culture methods often take one to five days to identify the pathogen, leaving clinicians to treat blindly... Read morePathology
view channel
Tunable Cell-Sorting Device Holds Potential for Multiple Biomedical Applications
Isolating rare cancer cells from blood is essential for diagnosing metastasis and guiding treatment decisions, but remains technically challenging. Many existing techniques struggle to balance accuracy,... Read moreAI Tool Outperforms Doctors in Spotting Blood Cell Abnormalities
Diagnosing blood disorders depends on recognizing subtle abnormalities in cell size, shape, and structure, yet this process is slow, subjective, and requires years of expert training. Even specialists... Read moreTechnology
view channel
Artificial Intelligence Model Could Accelerate Rare Disease Diagnosis
Identifying which genetic variants actually cause disease remains one of the biggest challenges in genomic medicine. Each person carries tens of thousands of DNA changes, yet only a few meaningfully alter... Read more
AI Saliva Sensor Enables Early Detection of Head and Neck Cancer
Early detection of head and neck cancer remains difficult because the disease produces few or no symptoms in its earliest stages, and lesions often lie deep within the head or neck, where biopsy or endoscopy... Read moreIndustry
view channel
Abbott Acquires Cancer-Screening Company Exact Sciences
Abbott (Abbott Park, IL, USA) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Exact Sciences (Madison, WI, USA), enabling it to enter and lead in fast-growing cancer diagnostics segments.... Read more








