SETTING UP AND STATISTICAL EVALUATION OF A NEW HEMOGLOBIN ASSAY

A new method for the determination of haemoglobin concentration in hum an whole blood has been devised. The assay takes advantage of the lysi s of erythrocytes that occurs when blood penetrates the pores of a mic roporous membrane by a strong capillary effect. The released haemoglob in reacts with the reagents previously dried on the membrane, diffuses through the pores of the membrane and produces a uniform coloured spo t whose reflectance at 556 nm can be evaluated at the side opposite to that of application of the sample. In the experimental conditions use d by authors, a linear relationship was obtained when the reciprocal r eflectance was plotted against the haemoglobin concentration. Data obt ained by the reflectometric method were compared with reference values on the same samples from centralized laboratories. Statistical analys is gave a correlation coefficient of 0.985 and only 4% of all haemoglo bin determinations were outside the 95% confidence interval. No interf erence was observed by haematocrit, erythrocyte count, mean corpuscula r volume or mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration and leukocyte c ount. This method proved to be useful for rapid, accurate and precise assay of total haemoglobin on both capillary and venous blood.