Point-of-care (POC) testing decentralizes the diagnostic tests to the sites near the patient. Many POC tests rely on microfluidic platforms for sample-to-answer analysis. Compared to other microfluidic systems, magnetic digital microfluidics demonstrate compelling advantages for POC diagnostics. In this review, we have examined the capability of magnetic digital microfluidics-based POC diagnostic platforms. More importantly, we have categorized POC settings into three classes based on “where is the point”, “who to care” and “how to test”, and evaluated the suitability of magnetic digital microfluidics in various POC settings. Furthermore, we have addressed other technical issues associated with POC testing, such as controlled environment, sample-system interface, system integration and information connectivity. We hope this review would provide a guideline for the future development of magnetic digital microfluidics-based platforms for POC testing.

即时 (POC) 测试将诊断测试分散到患者附近的地点。许多 POC 测试依赖于微流体平台进行样本到答案分析。与其他微流体系统相比，磁性数字微流体在 POC 诊断方面表现出引人注目的优势。在这篇综述中，我们研究了基于磁性数字微流体的 POC 诊断平台的能力。更重要的是，我们根据“重点在哪里”、“关注谁”和“如何测试”将 POC 设置分为三类，并评估了磁性数字微流体在各种 POC 设置中的适用性。此外，我们还解决了与 POC 测试相关的其他技术问题，例如受控环境、样本系统接口、系统集成和信息连接。