The determination of total haemoglobin as haemiglobin

This study describes a new method for routine total haemoglobin determination by conversion to haemiglobin (Hi), and compares it with the haemiglobin cyanide (HiCN) method. Experiments were performed in two phases. Firstly, the absorbance coefficient (epsilon Hi,500mm) at pH = 6.8, determined from 24 blood samples, was found to be 998 +/- 31 m2.mol-1. Secondly, using this value of epsilon, the range of haemoglobin concentration measured was 3.7 to 19.2 mmol.l-1 (6 to 31 g.dl-1). The correlation data shows an excellent correlation (r = 0.982, p less than 0.001) with the reference procedure. Reproducibility and accuracy were shown to be good.