Sweat·Chek™
Conductivity Analyzer
Sweat Chek is the dedicated sweat conductivity analyzer for use with the Macroduct® Sweat Testing System. For years, we?ve tried being modest about this groundbreaking method, but thousands of satisfied customers have forced us to admit?nothing else even comes close to the easy-to-use and reliable Sweat-Chek.
The co-inventor of the QPIT method, Dr Lewis E. Gibson, is a firm supporter of the Macroduct/Sweat Chek method who reports:
[Sweat-Chek]...gives results that are every bit as reliable as an analysis for sodium or chloride.
Sweat-Chek brings simplicity and economy to the analytical phase of the Macroduct sweat test for cystic fibrosis. This truly practical sweat testing system is now within the means of small hospitals, local clinics, or private practitioners. Larger clinics and hospitals need no longer tie down personnel and resources with the tedious and error prone pad absorption procedure when the Wescor method is so simple, safe, and accurate.
While clinicians have traditionally used sweat chloride or sweat sodium ion assay, sweat conductivity has been shown to be an accurate method of sweat analysis. It is a simple and reliable indicator to confirm or exclude the physician's clinical diagnosis of cystic
fibrosis.
How it Works
Sweat samples are collected in Macroduct using the normal procedure. A syringe is attached to the end of the microbore tubing before the tubing is uncoiled and severed from the collector body. The end of the microbore tube is then attached to the inlet nipple of the Sweat-Chek conductivity cell.
A separate length of clean microbore tubing is attached to the outlet nipple of the cell to act as a take-up reservoir.
The specimen is transferred into the cell by moving the syringe plunger. When the specimen contacts both cell electrodes (less than 10 microliters are required), the conductivity of the specimen is measured, converted to equivalent NaCl molarity, and the result displayed.
The conductivity cell is temperature-controlled for stable calibration and operation. A stable reading obtains in about 10 seconds as the specimen equilibrates to the cell temperature. The digital readout is calibrated in units of molarity (mmol/L) representing the molar concentration of a NaCl solution equivalent in conductance to that of the sample.
The specimen can be drawn back into the cell for repeat measurement, or it can be expressed into a storage cup for subsequent corroborative analysis by any microanalytical procedure including anion assay, cation assay, osmolality assay, or electrical conductivity if desired.