What? Is high blood potassium really caused by EDTA anticoagulant?

Clinical detection reagents are regarded as "doctor's eyes" in medicine and are an indispensable part of modern medical examinations. They can greatly improve detection efficiency and ensure the accuracy of test results.It is also increasingly becoming an important part of human disease diagnosis. One of the most common reagents is EDTA anticoagulant. According to the difference in performance, it is usually divided into three types: EDTA dipotassium, EDTA tripotassium, and EDTA disodium.

1. The choice of dipotassium EDTA, tripotassium EDTA and disodium EDTA

Because water-soluble of EDTA potassium salt is better than sodium salt, anticoagulants such as potassium salt are preferred for use in blood collection tubes. However,cause the pH of dipotassium EDTA will be lower than that of tripotassium EDTA, which can compensate for the shrinkage of blood cells caused by osmotic pressure, dipotassium EDTA will be more in line with the detection requirements and become commonly used reagents in purple anticoagulant tubes.

2. Will EDTA anticoagulant cause hyperkalemia

Potassium ions are very abundant cations in the body, 98% of which are in the cells. The blood potassium concentration of normal people is between 3.5-5.5mmol/L. It can maintain the acid-base balance inside and outside the cells and maintain the normal operation of the nervous system. Once the blood potassium is too high, it will cause the systolic function of the heart rate to decrease, making the heart diastole too slow, so when detecting diseases, many medical staff will pay special attention to this test.

But in many cases, hyperkalemia will also be encountered. Some people suspect that it is caused by EDTA dipotassium anticoagulant. Is this really the case? In fact, it is not all the fault of dipotassium EDTA. Clinically, the phenomenon of hyperkalemia occurs should consider the following aspects.

1. The blood collection tubes are mixed and used incorrectly, such as using anticoagulant tubes containing dipotassium EDTA to do biochemical tests after taking blood samples.

2. The blood collection sequence is wrong, which affects the EDTA in the tube. For example, EDTA anticoagulant tube is used to take the blood sample for routine blood testing, resulting in a small amount of EDTA anticoagulant remaining in the blood collection needle. Or the blood is contaminated along the return flow of the blood collection needle.

3. Reagents used in blood collection tubes generally have high requirements and need to reach certain key values. If the performance of the selected EDTA raw material is not good, it may have the effect of penetrating or diluting blood, which will interfere with the detection process and cause high blood potassium.Then it is necessary to consider changing the supplier of EDTA raw materials.

Desheng Biochemical is a manufacturer of EDTA series products, all of which are of analytical grade with good solubility. It has long-term cooperation with downstream reagent manufacturers, and has received constant praise from customers. At present, the company's production capacity has reached the ton level, and the goods can be directly supplied. If you have a demand for blood collection tube reagents, please click the website for consultation!