Biochemia Medica, Vol. 23 No. 2, 2013.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.11613/BM.2013.023
Avoidance to wipe alcohol before venipuncture is not a source of spurious hemolysis
Gian Luca Salvagno
; Laboratory of Clinical Biochemistry, Department of Life and Reproduction Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
Elisa Danese
; Laboratory of Clinical Biochemistry, Department of Life and Reproduction Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
Gabriel Lima-Oliveira
; 1Laboratory of Clinical Biochemistry, Department of Life and Reproduction Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy 2Post-Graduate Program of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Medical Pathology Federal University of Parana, Curitiba, Parana, Braz
Gian Cesare Guidi
; Laboratory of Clinical Biochemistry, Department of Life and Reproduction Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
Giuseppe Lippi
orcid.org/0000-0001-9523-9054
; Laboratory of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, Academic Hospital of Parma, Parma, Italy
Abstract
Background: It is still uncertain whether or not avoidance to let disinfectant alcohol dry at the site of venipuncture is a source of spurious hemolysis when drawing venous blood.
Methods: In a consecutive series of 52 outpatients referred for routine laboratory testing, venous blo-od was drawn by direct venipuncture with (odd group) or without (pair group) wiping 70% isopropyl alcohol at the site of venipuncture. A 3.5 mL evacuated tube with clot activator and gel separator was drawn from a vein of the upper limb, serum was immediately separated with standard centrifugation and tested for potassium, lactate dehydrogenase (LD), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and hemolysis index (HI) on Roche Cobas.
Results: No specimen was discarded for unsatisfactory venipuncture. No differences for age and gender were observed between groups. As regards the four parameters investigated, no significant differences could be observed between patients in whom blood was drawn with or without letting the alcohol dry. It is also noteworthy that no sample in both groups exceeded the conventional sample rejection threshold of cell-free hemoglobin.
Conclusions: The results of our prospective, randomized study attest that failure to wipe alcohol at the site of venipuncture should not be considered as a potential source of spurious hemolysis when drawing blood.
Keywords
preanalytical variability; hemolysis; alcohol; practice guideline
Hrčak ID:
103795
URI
Publication date:
15.6.2013.
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