Newly Developed Point-of-Care Hemoglobinometer Evaluated

Hemoglobin (Hb) concentration is routinely measured using automated analyzers, and although these counters are very accurate and reliable, they are expensive and too cumbersome for portability.

Portable hemoglobinometer can potentially provide the solution to the challenges as they are affordable, precise, and convenient and require only a tiny sample of capillary or venous blood, do not require any calibration and display digital results immediately.

Scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD; New Delhi, India) collected 200 hundred randomly selected venous blood samples, submitted for hemogram study at the Department of Hematology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (New Delhi, India). The hemoglobin values of these samples were evenly spread. There were 67, 76, and 57 samples in the ranges of 3.4–8 g/dL, 8–12.5 g/dL, and 12.5–20 g/dL respectively.

The investigators evaluated the performance of the portable hemometer called TrueHb (New Delhi, India) developed by IITD, and compared it with an automated five-part hematology analyzer intended for in vitro diagnostic use in clinical laboratories, the Sysmex counter XT 1800i (Sysmex; Kobe, Japan). The two set of values were comparatively analyzed and the repeatability of the performance of TrueHb was also evaluated against Sysmex value.

The scatter plot of TrueHb values and Sysmex values showed linear distribution with positive correlations. The intraclass correlation (ICC) values between the two set of values was found to be very high. The mean difference in Bland–Altman plots of TrueHb values against the Sysmex values was found to be −0.02, with limits of agreement between -0.777 and 0.732 g/dL. Statistical analysis suggested good repeatability in results of TrueHb, having a low mean coefficient of variation (CV) of 2.22, against 4.44, that of Sysmex values, and 95% confidence interval of 1.99 to 2.44, against 3.85 to 5.03, that of Sysmex values.

The authors concluded that a strong positive correlation between the two measurements devices suggest that the newly developed hemometer, TrueHb, can potentially replace a pathology laboratory analyzer for the purpose of measuring hemoglobin in blood samples. Keeping the performance of TrueHb in view, the newly developed device exhibited the potential to become a dependable tool for healthcare providers for measuring and monitoring hemoglobin levels of patients in conventional healthcare setups as well as in field studies. The study was published on November 22, 2014, in the International Journal of Laboratory Hematology.

Related Links:
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi 
All India Institute of Medical Sciences
TrueHb