Impact of mobile clinical analyzers on disaster medicine: a lesson from crush syndrome in the 1995 Hanshin-Awaji earthquake.
The Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake caused many people to develop crush syndrome. Analysis of these patients revealed that the severity is not related to their hemodynamics but to hematocrit, base deficits, and potassium concentrations soon after their extrications. In the disaster site, these parameters can only be measured using whole-blood samples by mobile instruments. The present study was made to evaluate the possibility of uses of a mobile measuring device, ABL77, for the triage of crush syndrome patients in disaster sites. Heparin-added blood samples and serum samples were collected from patients admitted to Senshu Critical Care Medical Center. Blood gases, electrolytes, and hematocrit of the heparin-added blood samples were measured using ABL77 and compared with those measured using the stationary device ABL725. Potassium concentrations of the heparin-added blood samples measured by the ABL77 were compared with those of the serum samples measured by the stationary EA06T. Significant correlations were observed between the measurements. We conclude that the ABL77 was satisfactorily compatible with stationary devices in the hospital. Medical institutions should have simplified, mobile measuring devices as a precaution against disasters, so that they can get ready to take appropriate action promptly.
Kubota
Meri
M
Osaka Prefectural Senshu Critical Care Medical Center, 2-24 Rinku Orai-Kita, Izumisano, Osaka 598-0048, Japan. kubota@sccmc.izumisano.osaka.jp
Ishida
Hiromi
H
Kojima
Yoshitada
Y
Fukuda
Atsuhisa
A
Mizushima
Yasuaki
Y
Mizobata
Yasumitsu
Y
Matsuoka
Tetsuya
T
Yokota
Junichiro
J
D000552:Ambulances; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D003444:Crush Syndrome / Q000097:blood*; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000379:methods; D004190:Disasters; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000379:methods; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007564:Japan; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013673:Technology Assessment, Biomedical; D014218:Triage / Q000379:methods*