Analytical evaluation of direct bicarbonate measurement with the new gem premier chemstat in hemodialysis patients.

GEM Premier ChemSTAT is a whole-blood analyzer designed for providing a rapid basic metabolic panel, inclusive of creatinine and blood urea nitrogen, with the unique characteristic of providing measured bicarbonate (HCO) levels. The aim of this work was to evaluate the clinical performance of HCO assessment with this analyser in a real-life hemodialysis setting. Imprecision was calculated at different HCO levels, along with assay comparison with Gem Premier 4000 analysers.

Glucose variation in centrifuged serum and lithium-heparin gel tubes stored for up to 96 hours at room temperature or 4 °C.

This study aimed to verify glucose stability within centrifuged serum and lithium-heparin tubes stored at room temperature (RT) or 4 °C. Sixty paired serum (plus gel separator), lithium-heparin (plus gel separator) and K-EDTA tubes were centrifuged within 30 min from collection. Thirty serum and lithium-heparin tubes were then stored at RT, whilst the other 30 serum and lithium-heparin tubes were kept at 4 °C.