Evaluation of the HemoCue plasma haemoglobin analyser for assessing haemolysis in red cell concentrates during storage.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the HemoCue plasma haemoglobin (Hb) analyser for determining supernatant Hb in red cell concentrates (RCC) during storage and compare this to a spectrophotometric method.


METHODS
Samples from RCC (n = 20) at days 0, 7, 21, 35 and 42 of storage were tested by both methods for supernatant Hb.


RESULTS
Results are given as median with range. There was a significant correlation (r = 0.97, P < 0.0001), but statistically significant difference between the two methods (0.72 (0.36-2.77) spectrophotometric vs. 0.70 (0.3-2.6) g/l HemoCue). However, the mean bias was negligible at 0.06 g/l. The HemoCue method gave a interassay coefficient of variation of 5.6% at 1.2 g/l and was linear to at least 20 g/l.


CONCLUSIONS
The HemoCue plasma haemoglobin analyser is a simple, rapid, reliable and accurate method for the determination of supernatant Hb in RCC at the end of storage and compares well to established methods for supernatant Hb measurement.
Cardigan
R
R
National Blood Service, Brentwood, UK. rebecca.cardigan@nbs.nhs.uk
Smith
K
K
D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D004906:Erythrocyte Count; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006452:Hemoglobinometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis*; D006461:Hemolysis; D006801:Humans; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D006454:Hemoglobins