The importance of monitoring blood glucose concentration of premature babies in the hours and days following birth is highlighted by this recently published clinical study. Although it is well established that prematurity is associated with increased risk of both hyperglycemia (increased blood glucose) and...

Cardiac troponin T (cTnT) is the biomarker of choice for diagnosis of acute coronary syndromes (myocardial infarction (MI) and unstable angina). The cardiac muscle cell (myocyte) necrosis, consequent on ischemia that characterises MI, results in release of troponins from necrosed cardiac myocytes to blood and rising...

The D-dimer blood test is a clinical laboratory test that is also increasingly available at the point of care, most often the hospital emergency room. Over the past decade or so the test has become established for emergency room assessment of patients suspected of suffering deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism,...

Blood gas analysis involves measurement of three parameters: pH, partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO₂) and partial pressure of oxygen (pO₂). Derived (calculated from these measured values) parameters also generated during blood gas analysis include: bicarbonate (HCO₃) concentration, base excess (BE) and oxygen...

Health demands that blood pH is maintained within narrow limits (7.35-7.45). Acidosis (i.e. pH <7.35) is a common feature of many acute/critical conditions that warrant admission to intensive care. pH <6.8 is commonly reported in medical texts as incompatible with life, but there are rare individual case reports of...

A clinical requirement for determination of the pH and base deficit (BD) of umbilical-cord arterial blood has ensured a role for the blood gas analyzer in the delivery suite of obstetric units.  The principal objective of this testing in the minutes immediately after birth is to identify those babies who have been...

The maintenance of blood pH within normal limits (7.35-7.45), called acid-base homeostasis, is a complex synergy involving three organs (lungs, kidneys and brain) as well as chemical buffers in blood and blood cells (erythrocytes). This vital physiologic process is the subject of a recent expert review article,...

The process of blood gas and pH measurement involves preheating the arterial blood sample to normal body temperature (37 °C) prior to measurement of pH, partial pressure of oxygen (pO₂) and partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO₂). This ensures that results reflect in vivo temperature condition. A minority of...

The significance of good practice during the preanalytical phase of clinical laboratory investigation cannot be overemphasized. One aspect of the preanalytical phase – the transport of samples – is considered here; in particular the transport of samples via pneumatic tube systems. This is an update of a previous...

Practically all victims of significant trauma will have blood sampled for plasma potassium estimation soon after admission to hospital emergency departments. But what is the frequency and significance of abnormal potassium results at admission for these trauma patients?  That was the question addressed in design of a...