Arterial Blood Collection for Gas and Other Analyses. Comparison of Results Obtained With Three Types of Syringes

ABSTRACT

Most of the time, blood samples must be taken by syringe from radial, humeral or femoral artery in order to measure the arterial blood gas. These blood tests can be also carried out directly through an arterial catheter. The correct way to do a reliable blood test for measuring blood gas is now well established (5, 10), and must be respected if we are to have trustworthy results. Choosing the right equipment is one of the main pre-analytical criteria.

In this work, the blood gasometry results obtained by 3 types of syringes were compared with a sample of 27 patients.

In this study, the practicalities and the safety aspects of the 3 syringes were the same. There were statistically different values for blood gas measurements between the 3 syringes.

For the electrolytes Na⁺ and K⁺, Bayer heparin saturated and Bayer heparin reduced syringes seemed to be more reliable. This was not the case for Ca²⁺ although many publications (2, 11, 12,) have shown the sensitivity of this ion to anticoagulants.

The Becton Dickinson (BD) syringe seemed to be most appropriate when measuring haematocrite and total haemoglobin.

Therefore, for the standard blood tests usually requested for patients, syringes should be matched according to their pathologies and biological prescriptions. This study analyses also highlight the mistakes that are possible.

Keywords:

• arterial collection
• blood gas analyses
• syringes