Hemolysis, artifacts

Arteficial hemolysis is an in vitro hemolysis that can be artificially induced before, during, and after a blood draw (Neumeister 2009).

From a Hb concentration of about 20 mg / dl in blood or serum, hemolysis is visible to the naked eye (Herold 2022).

It should be noted that hemolysis in a blood sample causes the following values to increase artificially:

- LDH by a factor of 160

- AST (GOT) by a factor of 14

- ALT (GPT) by a factor of 7

- Potassium by a factor of 23 (Herold 2022)

In vitro hemolysis before, during, or after a blood draw can occur, for example, due to:

- too long venous congestion

- too narrow puncture cannulas

- poor transport conditions (Müller 2023)

- mixing the blood sample too vigorously

- accidental freezing of the blood sample (Purschke 2000)

- too strong negative pressure due to violent pulling on the flask (Niederau 2021)

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2. Kasper D L, Fauci A S, Hauser S L, Longo D L, Jameson J L, Loscalzo J et al (2015) Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. Mc Graw Hill Education
3. Müller M (2023) Laboratory medicine: microbiology, clinical chemistry, infectiology, transfusion medicine in question and answer. BoD- Books on Demand Norderstedt 212, 853 - 854.
4. Neumeister B, Besenthal I, Böhm B O (2009) Clinician's guide to laboratory diagnostics. Elsevier Urban and Fischer Publishers 8
5. Niederau C, Böhm B O (2021) Clinician's guide to laboratory medicine. Elsevier Urban und Fischer Verlag Chapter 1. 1. 6
6. Purschke R (2000) Refresher Course: current knowledge for anesthesiologists. Springer Verlag Berlin / Heidelberg 3