Serum bilirubin estimation, which has for some years now been available on point-of-care analyzers, including blood gas analyzers, is probably the most frequently requested blood test in neonatal medicine.  This is because increased serum/plasma bilirubin concentration (hyperbilirubinemia) and consequent jaundice is...

Plasma bicarbonate concentration, a parameter generated during arterial blood gas analysis, is essential to the assessment of patient acid-base status. Blood gas analyzers do not have the capacity to directly measure bicarbonate; instead, it is calculated from measured pH and pCO₂(a), using the Henderson-Hasselbalch...

Although arterial blood remains the gold standard sample for blood gas analysis, it is, compared with peripheral venous blood, a more difficult sample to obtain, and its collection is more painful and hazardous for the patient. These considerations have fuelled a growing interest in study aimed at establishing if...

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), a common acute and potentially life-threatening complication of diabetes that results from insulin deficiency, is characterized by raised blood glucose (hyperglycemia) and metabolic acidosis. Metabolic acidosis occurs due to abnormal accumulation in blood of ketoacids, principally...

In the ED, 25 % of patients with angina pectoris with suspected AMI are wrongly diagnosed (no cardiac involvement). As a result, the patient risks are increased and resources are wasted. We investigated the effect of point-of-care testing (POCT) on ED processes, resource needs, patient risks and overall costs. POCT...

A new parameter called critical reference change value (CrRCV) to be applied for the interpretation of serial measurements of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) is introduced. To illustrate the practical utility of CrRCV a set of clinical examples based on two consecutive cTnI results are presented. Thus three cTnI changes...

Arterial blood gas (ABG) analysis generates a number of parameters (listed in BOX 5) that together allow assessment of pulmonary gas exchange, blood oxygenation and acid-base balance. These physiological functions of the blood, respiratory and renal systems are disturbed in a range of respiratory and non-respiratory...

Metabolic alkalosis is a disturbance of acid-base balance, with many possible causes, characterized by primary increase in blood bicarbonate (HCO₃) and pH. Hypoventilation is the normal compensatory respiratory response to metabolic alkalosis. This results in increased pCO₂ and, if the metabolic alkalosis is...

In health plasma potassium concentration is maintained between 3.5 and 5.2 mmol/L. The most significant clinical effect of both raised plasma potassium (hyperkalemia) and reduced plasma potassium (hypokalemia) is on the myocardium (heart muscle).  This reflects the fact that the resting membrane potential of cardiac...

Many hospitals have a pneumatic tube system (PTS) that is routinely used to transport blood samples rapidly to the central laboratory, but the notion that such systems can be used to transport samples destined for blood gas analysis is challenged by the results of a recent study.  This prospective study, focusing on...