Hemoglobin in Samples with Leukocytosis Can Be Measured on ABL 700 Series Blood Gas Analyzers

Automated hematology analyzers are prone to spuriously increased hemoglobin (Hb) results in the presence of high leukocyte counts. Interference becomes significant above 50 × 109 leukocytes/L (1). Therefore, in patients with high leukocyte counts, Hb concentrations may have to be measured with alternative methods. Many laboratories use the manual hemiglobincyanide method (2) for Hb measurements in samples from patients with high leukocyte counts. This method is commonly considered as a reference procedure (3).For daily routine it would be convenient to have a less labor- and time-consuming method available to measure Hb in patient samples with high leukocyte counts. We therefore investigated whether samples with leukocytes >50 × 109 …