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Clinical Chemistry 46: 306-307, 2000;
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(Clinical Chemistry. 2000;46:306-307.)
© 2000 American Association for Clinical Chemistry, Inc.

Letters

Hemolyzed Specimens: A Reason for Rejection or a Clinical Challenge?

Paolo Carraro

a Address correspondence to this author at: Servizio di Medicina di Laboratorio, Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova, Via Giustiniani 2, 35128 Padova, Italy. Fax 39-49-66-32-40; e-mail pad08821@pd.nettuno.it.

Giuseppe Servidio
Mario Plebania

Department of Laboratory Medicine, University-Hospital, 35128 Padova, Italy


To the Editor:

Clinical laboratories must improve the preanalytical phase, a phase highly susceptible to mistakes (1). In some reports, hemolyzed specimens, the most common reason for rejection, account for ~60% of rejected specimens, fivefold more than the second most common cause (2). Cellular contents can falsely increase values for some plasma constituents, such as potassium, lactate dehydrogenase, and aspartate aminotransferase (3). Moreover, hemolysis produces spectrophotometric interference with other laboratory methods.

In vitro hemolysis depends mainly on the way in which the blood samples are drawn and treated, and it may in particular depend on the blood being forced through too fine a needle (4) or through the large-bore needle of a syringe into a tube; it may also be caused by shaking the tube too vigorously and/or centrifuging blood specimens before clotting is complete. In vivo hemolysis, on the other hand, may have at least 50 causes. We evaluated the causes of hemolysis in samples . . . [Full Text of this Article]


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The following articles in journals at HighWire Press have cited this article:


Home page
 Clin. Chem.Home page
P. Bonini, M. Plebani, F. Ceriotti, and F. Rubboli
Errors in Laboratory Medicine
Clin. Chem., May 1, 2002; 48(5): 691 - 698.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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