Comparison of Electrolyte Levels Measured by a Blood Gas Analyzer and an Autoanalyzer

Abstract

Introduction: Electrolyte imbalance is a common clinical and laboratory abnormality in critically ill patients.

Objective: comparison of electrolyte levels measured by arterial blood gas  analyzers (ABG) and auto laboratory analyzer (AA), the gold standard for electrolyte measurement, and thus studying the reliability of electrolyte measurement by ABG.

Materials and Methods: Matched arterial and venous blood samples were collected from 138 patients at Lattakia University Hospital between 2023 and 2024. Arterial blood samples were analyzed using  ABG analyzer (MEDICA EasyStat), Venous blood samples were centrifuged and the same parameters measured using  AA (URIT 910 Plus) and the data were compared.

Results: The mean values ​​of sodium and potassium measured on ABG analyzer were lower than those of the AA analyzer, with a statistically significant difference (P-value < 0.001).

Conclusions: blood gas analyzer does not provide accurate results and cannot be used interchangeably with the autoanalyzer.