The effect of hemolytic contamination in sample on clinical chemistry analysis

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the effect of hemolysis on clinical chemistry analysis. Blood samples were obtained from 30 healthy volunteers in the age range of 20-60 years. Non-hemolyzed plasma was separated from whole blood by centrifugation. Hemolysis was simulated in samples by adding their own hemolysate to their non-hemolyzed plasma to make the final concentration of hemoglobin at 0.9 mg/mL, 1.8 mg/mL, 3.5 mg/mL and 6.7 mg/mL. These samples can be classified as 1+, 2+, 3+ and 4+ hemolysis samples respectively. Subsequently, all samples were analyzed for the following 14 parameters: glucose, BUN, creatinine, uric acid, total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, total protein, albumin, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, AST and ALT using an automatic analyzer. Clinical chemistry analysis showed that different hemolysis levels appear to significantly increase the level of certain tests. Accordingly, hemolysis 1+ affected direct bilirubin level (p<0.05). Hemolysis 2+ affected total bilirubin and AST level (p<0.05). Hemolysis 4+ affected glucose, uric acid, ALT and total protein level (p<0.05). However, hemolysis did not significantly affect to the results of BUN, total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, albumin and creatinine level. In conclusion, these results suggest that different levels of hemolysis may affect different chemical analytic parameters. Considering these results, hemolysis level may be an important factor to prevent unnecessary rejection.