Hemolyzed Blood Draws

July 26, 2003

Hi There Listmates.

My 4 year old son who has been on the protocol for 9 months has had to

go back to have his sample redrawn as the original draw had hemolyzed. I am

not entirely sure what this means but I know that they can't do an accurate

CBC count when this happens. The first time this happened 3-4 months ago, I

wasn't overly worried, just ticked that we had to go back and do another

draw. But it just happened again and last month they had a hard time with

really slow flow to collect the sample. Does anyone know anything about

this? Has it happened to anyone else? Is it a thing, or perhaps a

result of the medication? I don't have a phone conference with Dr. G until

Aug 6th and I can't seem to find anything when I search on " CBC Blood Test

Hemolyzed " . Any help or information about this will hopefully set my mind

at ease...?

Lori

July 26, 2003

Hi Lori,

It has happened to us twice, once was at Sick Kids. It's not uncommon and it

doesn't have anything to do with your little guy. In lay terms its kind of

like the blood sample crystalizes before the lab has a chance to test it and

it throws of the results.

Take care,

Hemolyzed Blood Draws

> Hi There Listmates.

>

> My 4 year old son who has been on the protocol for 9 months has had

to

> go back to have his sample redrawn as the original draw had hemolyzed. I

am

> not entirely sure what this means but I know that they can't do an

accurate

> CBC count when this happens. The first time this happened 3-4 months ago,

I

> wasn't overly worried, just ticked that we had to go back and do another

> draw. But it just happened again and last month they had a hard time with

> really slow flow to collect the sample. Does anyone know anything about

> this? Has it happened to anyone else? Is it a thing, or perhaps a

> result of the medication? I don't have a phone conference with Dr. G

until

> Aug 6th and I can't seem to find anything when I search on " CBC Blood Test

> Hemolyzed " . Any help or information about this will hopefully set my mind

> at ease...?

>

> Lori

>

> Responsibility for the content of this message lies strictly with

> the original author, and is not necessarily endorsed by or the

> opinion of the Research Institute.

>

July 26, 2003

Hi all,

Hemolyzed blood specimens has to do with the quality of the draw. If

the blood is drawn through too small a needle it can rupture the red blood cells

and cause them to release their contents into the plasma (in the case of a

CBC). Other traumatic events at the time of draw can also cause hemolysis. It

really just means that the red blood cells have had something happen causing

them to split open. When they used to draw with a needle and shoot the

specimen into a tube we would get hemolysis more. If the tech squirted it

through

the needle too fast it could cause hemolysis. I'm not sure if a " slow flow "

could cause hemolysis but a traumatic stick definitely could. If they have to

" milk " or massage the arm to get blood flow this could definitely compromise

the quality of the specimen. I would try someone else who is more skilled with

pediatric blood draws. Maybe a change would be beneficial. Hope this helps.

Lori in PA

July 27, 2003

Lori --

It's funny you should ask about hemolyzed blood draws. We had Garrett's (2 yrs

7 mths) blood drawn at Dr. Goldberg's office on Thursday. When I got the result

back yesterday, it said: " Specimen Markedly Hemolyzed. " It was also very

slightly elevated for both calcium and potassium, with the following notations:

" Hemolysis can contribute to falsely elevated potassium and calcium. "

I called the lab to ask about it. Here's what I learned:

[Legal waiver: I'm NOT a doctor, nurse, or even an orderly; the extent of my

formal medical education is high school physiology!]

1) A " markedly " hemolyzed blood draw means the ordinarily straw-colored serum

or plasma (I forgot which) portion of the separated blood sample is slightly

pinkish in color. Another phrase ( " severely hemolyzed? " ) is used when it is red

instead of pink.

2) A hemolyzed sample is caused by broken red blood cells releasing

hemoglobin into the rest of the sample.

3) Broken red blood cells can be caused by using a needle that is too small,

which causes some of the red blood cells to get squashed (my term, not the

lab's). It can also be caused by shaking the sample too much. It can also be a

result of the patient's red blood cells being too fragile, although I didn't ask

about this 3rd possibility in any greater detail.

I wasn't particularly worried about the 3rd possibility, since this has never

happened to Garrett before. If you're concerned about it since it has previous

happened to your boy, I suggest sending an update to the office with the

question clearly marked for Dr. Goldberg's attention. His staff should then

let you know if there is anything warranting immediate attention.

Please post when you learn additional information!

Best,

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Message: 1

Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 07:54:23 -0400

From: " Lori " <lbharris@...>

Subject: Hemolyzed Blood Draws