A portable, self-powered system for rapid determination of blood pH and hematocrit, and levels of sodium, potassium, and chloride

Author / Creator

Stansell, Marion J

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Physical

Summary

A rapid, reliable, and accurate system has been developed for measuring blood hematocrit, blood pH, plasma chloride, plasma sodium, and plasma potassium levels during aeromedical evacuation operati...

A rapid, reliable, and accurate system has been developed for measuring blood hematocrit, blood pH, plasma chloride, plasma sodium, and plasma potassium levels during aeromedical evacuation operations. This analytic system, which has been subjected to extensive laboratory tests, is not only compact, portable, completely self-contained, and battery operated, but uses only small quantities of sample. With this assembly, the entire analytic operation from blood collection to final readout can be accomplished in 7 min. Validation testing indicates: (a) excellent electronic and temperature stability; (b) freedom from extraneous electrical interference; (c) a procedural coefficient of variation of less than 1% for measurements of pH and levels of sodium and chloride, near 1.4% for determination of hematocrit, and near 3% for the measurement of potassium; (d) agreement within 2% with established reference methods; and (e) six months of daily operations without debilitating malfunction. The system is of potential value in aeromedical evacuation as well as in emergency field hospitals, hospital wards, and any other areas requiring a system which is portable and independent of gas supplies and external electric power.

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