Comparative Study of Electrolyte Levels in Hyperlipaemia Cases by Using Spectrophotometry and Ion Selective Electrode Techniques

In hospitals (as well as private laboratories), there is some mistake in the results produced from pre-analytical or post-analytical errors such as the mistake from venipuncture, misuse of micropipette, sample collections and from the instruments. In this study we made a comparative study between the values which had been read by spectrophotometry technique before and after correction with ion selective electrode technique to reach the best results without false negative error in lipaemia or lipaemic serum.

Samples were collected from cases of hyper-lipaemia only then comparative reading by spectrophotometry, with and without multiple volumes of reagents, and by ion selective electrode technique.

The results showed that reading by spectrophotometer represented a false negative result for electrolytes due to interferences with the lipids. For example, serum level of sodium was (108mg/dl) by spectrophotometer and (168mg/dl) by ion selective electrode, while after correction by a spectrophotometer was (170mg/dl).

Serum samples of lipaemia cases must be follow appointed protocol (such as extraction, centrifugation and/or dilution) to eliminate lipids from the sample or use ion selective electrode technique to solve this problem.