[Problems regarding gasometric analysis when umbilical cord blood specimens are stored (author's transl)]

If, as is often the case in routine practice, the gasometric analysis cannot be conducted immediately after withdrawal of the blood specimen, this does not have important consequences for the clinical. When the blood specimens are stored in open glass tubes, the alterations are all within the demands made of the method for measurement accuracy. As far as the purely clinical problem is concerned, it would even be possible to let the umbilical cord itself set for up to 90 minutes. Discrepancies between the gas status from blood specimens measured late and the Apgar score cannot be explained by storing and, insofar as errors in measurement are not involved, can represent an important piece of informations for the diagnosis of the condition of the newborn.