Lithium is one of the best mood stabilizers compared to other mood stabilizers with the best evidence for it's efficacy in bipolar disorder. Mood stabilizers are used by patients with bipolar disorder. One of the draw backs of lithium is it's narrow therapeutic range. Lithium level in blood should be monitored often and includes a venipuncture. A Dutch Technical company: Medimate, is developing a Do-it-Yourself Lithium kit. Within 2 minutes the patient can read the lithium blood level. Psychiatrist no longer have to refer patients to hospital laboratories for a venipuncture and wait one or two days before the lithium concentration is available. A large Dutch Health Insurance Company and the Trimbos Instituut are busy researching cost effectiveness of this new device.
Trimbos Instituut
The Trimbos Institute is the National Institute of Mental Health and Addiction in the Netherlands. It is an independent foundation operating under Dutch law.
As a leading centre of excellence, the institute contributes to the synthesis, enrichment, implementation and dissemination of knowledge with regard to mental health and addiction problems.
Medimate has developed disposable Lab-on-a-Chip and a do it yourself Medimate Multireader. Medimate has a website, the English version is under construction.
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