Towards blood-gas autoanalysis an evaluation of the radiometer ABL

The performance of the Radiometer ABL 1 blood-gas analyser has been evaluated using tonometered blood samples of known PO2 and PCO2. The pH electrode was compared with two other pH electrode systems and the haemoglobin estimations were compared with measurements made by the standard cyanmethaemoglobin method. The accuracy of the machine compared well with standard blood-gas equipment, but the haemoglobin values had a small error because of a zero offset in the machine. The analyzer is simple to operate and has low running costs.