Polymers in Diagnostics

Historically, laboratory verification has been the mainstay of medical diagnostics. This has resulted in arduous processes, expensive equipment, and a shortage of medically educated workers, not to mention delayed findings. However, the growing need for point-of-care medical testing devices coupled with the ongoing medical and digital technology integration has made it easier to create devices that have high selectivity, specificity, and quick reaction times. Every pandemic has brought attention to the development of these devices on a global scale, underscoring the pressing need to improve accurate, timely, and dependable medical diagnosis and treatment. The need for innovative methods of identifying biological entities with quick and precise diagnostic capacities is now growing steadily. Polymeric materials have been used as a key component in the development of several analytical procedures. Due to their easily adjustable characteristics, including their viscoelasticity, chemical and mechanical resistance, and adaptability, polymers have a wide range of uses. The fundamental benefit of employing polymers is their adaptability when mixed with other materials to produce products with a variety of physicochemical properties. Therefore, the physicochemical qualities of the polymer, which include its physical and chemical characteristics, may be changed to suit the needs of a particular application, which are Polymer-Based Sensors, Lab-on-a-Chip Technologies, and Polymer-Mediated Imaging Agents. Special focus is on polymers that form multifunctional, stable systems with nanostructured architecture. This chapter provides an overview of the sorts of polymeric materials and how they function in the operation of important diagnostic equipment.

Keywords: Diagnostic capacities, High selectivity, Lab-on-a-Chip technologies, Nanostructured architecture, Polymer-mediated imaging agents, Point-of-Care, Polymers, Specificity.