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. 2023 Feb 20;4(1):5-27.
doi: 10.1515/almed-2023-0003. eCollection 2023 Apr.

Handling of lipemic samples in the clinical laboratory

[Article in English, Spanish]
Carla Fernández Prendes  1   2 , María José Castro Castro  2   3 , Lourdes Sánchez Navarro  4 , Loreto Rapún Mas  4 , Cristian Morales Indiano  1   2 , Teresa Arrobas Velilla  5   2
Affiliations

Handling of lipemic samples in the clinical laboratory

[Article in English, Spanish]
Carla Fernández Prendes et al. Adv Lab Med. .

Abstract

Interferences in the clinical laboratory may lead physicians misinterpret results for some biological analytes. The most common analytical interferences in the clinical laboratory include hemolysis, icterus and lipemia. Lipemia is defined as turbidity in a sample caused by the accumulation of lipoproteins, mainly very-low density lipoproteins (VLDL) and chylomicrons. Several methods are available for the detection of lipemic samples, including the lipemic index, or triglyceride quantification in serum or plasma samples, or mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCHC) concentration in blood samples. According to the European Directive 98/79/CE, it is the responsibility of clinical laboratories to monitor the presence of interfering substances that may affect the measurement of an analyte. There is an urgent need to standardize interference studies and the way interferences are reported by manufacturers. Several methods are currently available to remove interference from lipemia and enable accurate measurement of biological quantities. The clinical laboratory should establish a protocol for the handling of lipemic samples according to the biological quantity to be tested.

Keywords: interference; intralipid; lipemia; lipemia index; serum indices.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Flowchart for the detection and treatment of lipemic serum/plasma detection in the analysis of biological analytes.
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Flow chart for the detection and treatment of lipemic citrate plasma samples for the analysis of hemostatic analytes. *Method available in some hemostasis analyzers.
Figure 3:
Figure 3:
Flow chart for the detection and treatment of lipemic EDTA whole blood samples for the analysis of CBC analytes. CBC, complete blood count; MCHC, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration; MCH, mean corpuscular hemoglobin; Hb, hemoglobin. *The abnormal graph is specific of each hematology analyzer. **Only available in some hematology analyzers.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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