Abstract
BACKGROUND: Point-of-care (POC) testing device has been widely used because of its rapid availability of results making diagnosis and management as early as possible. Capillary blood can reduce the difficulty of obtaining samples compared to venous blood and allows the prompt testing results. In this study, we evaluated the usefulness of capillary blood in Samsung LABGEO PT10. METHODS: Fifty-one patients and 18 healthy adults aged between 20 and 65 were enrolled and their capillary and venous blood samples were collected. Venous blood samples were split into lithium heparin (LiHep) tube and serum-separating tube. Measurements using capillary blood and LiHep whole blood were performed in LABGEO PT10. Serum was used for measurement by Toshiba 2000FR NEO in central laboratory. RESULTS: In comparison between measurements in LABGEO PT10 using capillary and LiHep whole blood, the slope ranged between 0.9289 and 1.0471, correlation coefficients (R(2) ) were over 0.95 except albumin, high-density lipoprotein, and total protein. Comparison of measurements in capillary and LiHep whole blood using LABGEO PT10 with those in the central laboratory revealed that the slope ranged between 0.6433 and 1.1364 for capillary whole blood and 0.6255 and 1.1602 for LiHep whole blood except alkaline phosphatase. For most of analytes, R(2) were over 0.95. CONCLUSION: Measurements in LABGEO PT10 using capillary blood was well correlated with those in LABGEO PT10 using LiHep whole blood and also with in the central laboratory. In conclusion, capillary blood provides reliable measurements and can be trustfully used in LABGEO PT10.