John Severinghaus, who recently turned 80, is one of the pioneers in the field of blood gas. To celebrate his birthday, bloodgas.org has asked him to look back on the first developments leading to the modern blood gas analyzers. The following article has also been published in Anesthesiology, The Journal of the...

The measurement of the electrolytes in blood is one of the most frequently performed measurements as the electrolytes are of major physiological importance for numerous functions of the body. Analysis of electrolytes such as sodium and potassium are performed in the traditional clinical chemistry laboratory, but are...

"Six Sigma" is the latest trend in quality management and is being widely implemented in business and industry today. Six Sigma represents an evolution of Total Quality Management (TQM), providing a more quantitative framework for evaluating process performance and clearer goals for process improvement. The...

In the U.S. all testing, including decentralized testing, is regulated according to the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA'88). Congress passed CLIA'88 to ensure accurate, reliable, and timely test results regardless of test site. These quality control, quality assurance, and proficiency tesing...

In conjunction with Apgar scores and other parameters, umbilical-cord blood gas values are used to assess newborn respiratory status.  Paired umbilical-cord gas venous and arterial samples were collected from 200 patients to establish reference ranges for blood gas/hemoximetry parameters. Umbilical-cord samples were...

Both high and low blood glucose levels may be dangerous to the newborn baby. Measurement of blood or plasma lactate concentrations gives an indication of the adequacy of oxygen delivery to tissues, and blood and CSF lactate levels are essential investigations in the diagnosis of inborn errors of metabolism (IEM)....

The intraoperative monitoring of the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in arterial blood (pCO₂) is used to assess the adequacy of ventilation and guide clinical interventions.  Although end-tidal CO₂ monitoring remains the most frequently used non-invasive technology in the intraoperative setting to provide a...

The application of transcutaneous pO₂/pCO₂ monitoring is essential in optimizing the ventilatory management of critically ill newborns. Application areas include high-frequency oscillatory ventilation initiation, transitioning modes of ventilation, and inter-facility transport.

Babies are not small adults! The potential for abnormal adaptation to life outside of the womb, changes in physiology, and a myriad of possible life-threatening clinical conditions requires an understanding of the laboratory tests needed to support these infants.  To effectively handle the unique needs of these...

Electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) during labor has been performed for 40 years. However, the specificity in diagnosing asphyxia is still insufficient. The combination of EFM and fetal scalp-blood sampling was introduced shortly after the introduction of EFM.  Although this monitoring ensures a better sensitivity and...