title: Aberrant PO2 values in proficiency testing.
abstract: We prospectively determined the frequency of aberrant vials of fluorocarbon/buffer used for proficiency testing of measurements of pH, PCO2, and PO2, using 20 duplicate vials from 12 lots of fluorocarbon/buffer and two arterial blood gas analyzers in eight reference laboratories. We defined aberrant vials as vials for which both duplicate measurements differed from the mean value of repeated measurements for the specific instrument (for each lot of testing materials) by > 0.04 for pH, > 10% of the mean or 3.0 mm Hg, whichever was greater, for PCO2; or > 10% of the mean or 6 mm Hg, whichever was greater, for PO2. Four of 1620 vials (0.25%) were aberrant, all based on PO2 measurements (< 70 mm Hg); all would have failed in both American/California Thoracic Societies and College of American Pathologists proficiency programs. The average intra-instrument SDs of repeated measures (range of mean values: pH, 7.181-7.631; PCO2, 12.7-65.9; PO2, 32.5-150.1) were 0.0055 for pH, 0.67 mm Hg for PCO2, and 1.65 mm Hg for PO2. Deliberate contamination of the fluorocarbon emulsion with room air, as might occur during sampling from the vial, indicated that only minor increases in PO2 (e.g., 1.0 mm Hg at PO2 of 56 mm Hg) occur when samples are aspirated. Larger increases in PO2 (mean 7.1 mm Hg at a PO2 of 66 mm Hg) occurred when the syringe samples were contaminated with room air. We conclude that isolated aberrant measurements of PO2 in blood gas proficiency testing attributable to vial contents can occur, but the frequency is very low.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego Medical Center 92103.
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Fonzi
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Clausen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mahoney
mesh_terms: D001784:Blood Gas Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000592:standards*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000097:blood*; D005466:Fluorocarbons; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007753:Laboratories / Q000592:standards; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011786:Quality Control; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D005466:Fluorocarbons; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D010100:Oxygen