Comparison of the EPOC and i-STAT analysers for canine blood gas and electrolyte analysis

A prospective study to evaluate agreement and precision of a new point-of-care portable analyser, the EPOC analyser, compared with the i-STAT analyser in canine blood.

Blood samples (68 venous and 32 arterial) were obtained from 63 client-owned dogs for clinical reasons and surplus blood was used to analyse agreement between the EPOC and i-STAT analysers. Precision of the EPOC analyser was also assessed by repeat analysis of 20 samples. Measured analytes included pH, partial pressures of carbon dioxide and oxygen and concentrations of sodium, potassium, ionised calcium, glucose and haematocrit. Haemoglobin, base excess, bicarbonate and saturation of haemoglobin with oxygen were calculated.

EPOC precision was acceptable, but agreement was poor for sodium, haematocrit, haemoglobin and base excess. Overall, method comparison was poor for pH, partial pressure of oxygen, sodium, haematocrit, haemoglobin and base excess.

The EPOC analyser is useful for dogs, although clinically significant differences between the EPOC and i-STAT analysers exist for some analytes, and as such these analysers should not be used interchangeably.