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Updated: Jun 20, 2026
Measuring Deformability and Red Cell Heterogeneity in Blood by Ektacytometry
Published on: January 12, 2018
A comparative study of common techniques used to measure haemolysis in stored red cell concentrates
1Canadian Blood Services, Research and Development and the Centre for Blood Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Background And Objectives:
There is no standardized method of measuring the parameters for haemolysis determination of red cell concentrate (RCC). Three haemoglobin quantification methods (automated analyser, Harboe and Drabkin's) and two methods of haematocrit measurement (automated analyser and microcapillary centrifugation) were evaluated for use with RCC.
Materials And Methods:
Twenty stored RCC were assayed for total haemoglobin, supernatant haemoglobin and haematocrit.
Results:
Drabkin's and Harboe methods were linear (r(2) > or = 0.995) over 0.015-220 g/l haemoglobin. Overestimation by Drabkin's increased from 0% at 220 g/l to 137% at 0.015 g/l haemoglobin. Harboe values generally stayed within 6% of expected while haematology analyser values had a maximum 11% underestimation above 10 g/l. Analyser total haemoglobin was significantly lower (202 +/- 22 g/l) than Drabkin's (224 +/- 24 g/l) and Harboe (222 +/- 22 g/l) values. Haematocrit was greater via the analyser (65.7 +/- 5.7%) than with microcapillary centrifugation (59.3 +/- 5.7%).
Conclusions:
Harboe and Drabkin's methods are suitable for measuring total haemoglobin and supernatant haemoglobin in RCC. The analyser gave higher haematocrit values (11% on average) than did microcapillary centrifugation.
