Evaluation of the Creatinine Assay on the Reflotron ® Analyser under Centralized and Non-Centralized Conditions1)

Summary: The creatinine assay, performed on Reflotron ® "dry chemistry " analysers in six offices of general practitioners, was evaluated as part of a project on the quality of laboratory determinations in decentralized situations. The method itself was evaluated before this investigation was started. Differences were noticed between Reflotron ® machines, batches of strips, and various types of sample, viz. heparin-treated blood or plasma gave higher results than serum or EDTA-treated samples. All Reflotron ® results were lower in comparison with wet chemistry methods. The "dry chemistry " technique was not influenced by the presence of glucose or bilirubin (below 170 μηιοΐ/ΐ); haemoglobin interfered. By simultaneous sampling, all creatinine determinations performed on whole EDTA blood in the general practitioners offices were repeated on serum in centralized laboratories using "wet chemistry " techniques. In this comparison 3 % of all creatinine deter-minations in general practitioners offices were outside the 95 % confidence interval. We conclude that the creatinine determination on the Reflotron ® may be used in general practitioners office testing as long as the general practitioner is aware of its limitations and can rely on a "reference " laboratory for training, quality control and repetition of unexpected results. Introduction «- · * · ^ ™ ^ ι Λ \\Ί Λoffices in two areas in the Netherlands. We compared The creatinine assay on the Reflotron ® "dry chem- the decentralized Reflotron ® creatinine values wit