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Pretreatment of Body Fluid Specimens Using Hyaluronidase and Ultracentrifugation
Sonia L La'ulu1, Devon R Turner2, Emily Zupan2
1ARUP Institute for Clinical and Experimental Pathology, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Objective:
Viscous body fluids present challenges during clinical laboratory testing. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of hyaluronidase (HYAL) and ultracentrifugation (UC) pretreatment for a variety of body fluids before clinical chemistry testing.
Methods:
The following body fluids were evaluated: biliary/hepatic, cerebrospinal, dialysate, drain, pancreatic, pericardial, peritoneal/ascites, pleural, synovial, and vitreous. Analytes assessed included amylase, total bilirubin, cancer antigen 19-9, carcinoembryonic antigen, cholesterol, chloride, creatinine, glucose, lactate dehydrogenase, lipase, potassium, rheumatoid factor, sodium, total protein, triglycerides, urea nitrogen, and uric acid.
Results:
Observed percentage differences between HYAL treated and untreated fluids were less than ±15% for all analytes investigated, with a small number showing statistical significance (P <.05). In addition, UC showed increased variability for limited body fluid/analyte combinations.
Conclusion:
The HYAL treatment effectively reduced viscosity for body fluids. Validation of specimen pretreatment processes ensures acceptable analytical performance and the absence of unanticipated interferences.
