Performing a Complete Blood Count (CBC) on a Lipemic Sample

Very lipemic samples can have spurious laboratory results on automated analyzers. Some parameters of the complete blood count (hemoglobin, MCH, MCHC) are more accurately reported based on the findings of washed specimens which have had the lipemic plasma removed.

Plasma Replacement Procedure:
The lipemic specimen is initially run through the automated instrument and the results recorded.

1. A specimen of blood is aliquoted into a tube.
2. The height of the sample in the tube is marked by a line.
3. The sample is then washed with instrument diluent followed by
   centrifugation and supernatant removal until the supernatant is clear.
4. An amount of diluent is added to bring the sample to the marked line. This needs to be done as accurately as possible.
5. The washed sample is then run through the analyzer.

Correction factor = (RBC count on untreated specimen) / (RBC count on washed specimen)

Hemoglobin to report = (hemoglobin of washed specimen) * (correction factor)


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Performing a Complete Blood Count (CBC) on a Lipemic Sample

Source: MELINA+ Algorithms