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Blood loss from laboratory diagnostic tests in children

  • Krystyna Sztefko EMAIL logo , Joanna Beba , Katarzyna Mamica and Przemysław Tomasik
Published/Copyright: February 1, 2013
Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM)
From the journal Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) Volume 51 Issue 8

Abstract

Background: Excessive diagnostic phlebotomy in children and critically ill patients is a frequent phenomenon in many hospitals. However, little attention is paid to a single blood volume taken routinely everyday from thousands of patients worldwide. The objective of the present study was to assess the volume of a single blood sample draw for laboratory testing in a pediatric population in relation to child age and weight, number of diagnostic tests requested by physicians, laboratory needs, and size of collection tube.

Methods: A single blood volume draw for diagnostic tests was measured in 3136 consecutive routine samples taken from children (from 1 day to 18 years old) and placed into a Microvette® or regular sampling tubes. The serum excess was calculated by taking into account the serum volume needed for the requested number of tests and the dead volume of analyzer.

Results: A huge variation in blood volume draws between individual patients, regardless of the number of tests requested, has been observed. The number of blood samples placed into the microvette decreased with patients’ age, with 53.9% in children younger than 1 month old and 9.3% in children older than 12 years old. There was a clear-cut increase in the mean value of the blood volume draw with an increase in children’s age. Only 2% of children up to 3 years old had a blood volume draw >1 mL/kg body weight.

Conclusions: Each pediatric laboratory should have a clear-cut recommendation on the amount on blood volume necessary for the requested number of tests.

Keywords: blood volume; children; phlebotomy
Corresponding author: Prof. Dr hab. Krystyna Sztefko, Clinical Biochemistry Department P-A Pediatric Institute, Collegium Medicum, Jagiellonian University, Krakow 30-663, Poland

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Received: 2012-10-04
Accepted: 2012-12-14
Published Online: 2013-02-01
Published in Print: 2013-08-01

©2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/cclm-2012-0672
Keywords for this article
blood volume; children; phlebotomy

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Letters to the Editors
  2. Clinical utility of serum tumor markers and cytokines in cervical cancer and neoplasia
  3. Establishing reference intervals for LDL subfractions in a Korean population using the Lipoprint LDL system
  4. Measurement imprecision of common urinary biochemical analytes on the Roche Cobas 6000 system
  5. A comparison between turbidimetric inhibition immunoassay and capillary electrophoresis in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) measurement
  6. Commutability: a peculiar property of calibration and control materials. Definition and evaluation
  7. Diagnostic sensitivity of a panel of tests to detect monoclonal protein in Korean multiple myeloma patients
  8. Commutability of proficiency testing (PT): status of the matrix-related bias in general clinical chemistry
  9. Masthead
  10. Masthead
  11. Editorial
  12. Why specifications for allowable glucose meter errors should include 100% of the data
  13. Reviews
  14. ABO blood group: old dogma, new perspectives
  15. Trace elements and bone health
  16. Mini Review
  17. The role of transcription factors in laboratory medicine
  18. Opinion Papers
  19. Nobelitis: a common disease among Nobel laureates?
  20. The syndrome of the “obsessive-compulsory scientist”: a new mental disorder?
  21. Can current analytical quality performance of UK clinical laboratories support evidence-based guidelines for diabetes and ischaemic heart disease? – A pilot study and a proposal
  22. Guidelines and Recommendations
  23. Survey of national guidelines, education and training on phlebotomy in 28 European countries: an original report by the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EFLM) working group for the preanalytical phase (WG-PA)
  24. General Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
  25. Red cell indices: differentiation between β-thalassemia trait and iron deficiency anemia and application to sickle cell disease and sickle cell thalassemia
  26. Problems in determining thalassemia carrier status in a program for prevention and control of severe thalassemia syndromes: a lesson from Thailand
  27. An enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the determination of the human haptoglobin phenotype
  28. Blood loss from laboratory diagnostic tests in children
  29. Hematocrit correction does not improve glucose monitor accuracy in the assessment of neonatal hypoglycemia
  30. Evaluation of a mobile clinical pathology laboratory developed for the home care of pediatric patients following transplantation of peripheral blood precursor cells
  31. Folic acid supplementation does not reduce intracellular homocysteine, and may disturb intracellular one-carbon metabolism
  32. Influence of spurious hemolysis on blood gas analysis
  33. Serum procalcitonin predicts development of acute kidney injury in patients with suspected infection
  34. Reference Values and Biological Variations
  35. Nationwide multicenter study aimed at the establishment of common reference intervals for standardized clinical laboratory tests in Japan
  36. Cancer Diagnostics
  37. Application of BRAF, NRAS, KRAS mutations as markers for the detection of papillary thyroid cancer from FNAB specimens by pyrosequencing analysis
  38. Comparative evaluation of the My5-FU™ immunoassay and LC-MS/MS in monitoring the 5-fluorouracil plasma levels in cancer patients
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