Cardiovascular disease detection using bio-sensing techniques

Universally, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is recognised as the prime cause of death with estimates exceeding 20 million by 2015 due to heart disease and stroke. Facts regarding the disease, its classification and diagnosis are still lacking. Hence, understanding the issues involved in its initiation, its symptoms and early detection will reduce the high risk of sudden death associated with it. Biosensors developed to be used as rapid screening tools to detect disease biomarkers at the earliest stage and able to classify the condition are revolutionising CVD diagnosis and prognosis. Advances in interdisciplinary research areas have made biosensors faster, highly accurate, portable and environmentally friendly diagnostic devices. The recent advances in microfluidics and the advent of nanotechnology have resulted in the development of improved diagnostics through reduction of analysis time and integration of several clinical assays into a single, portable device as lab-on-a-chip (LOC). The development of such affinity based systems is a major drive of the rapidly growing nanotechnology industry which involves a multidisciplinary research effort encompassing nanofluidics, microelectronics and analytical chemistry. This review summarised the classification of CVD, the biomarkers used for its diagnosis, biosensors and their application including the latest developments in the field of heart-disease detection. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.