Accuracy and precision of a point-of-care hemoglobinometer for measuring hemoglobin concentration and estimating packed cell volume in horses.

The research article is about the performance of a portable device for measuring the concentration of hemoglobin and estimating the packed cell volume (PCV) in horses’ blood. The findings showed that the device was fairly accurate and reliable for blood samples from horses with a hemoglobin concentration less than 16 g/dL.

Study Methodology

• The study was run as a prospective trial and included 55 horses as subjects. Out of these, 43 were at a veterinary teaching hospital and 12 were healthy horses.
• For the hospitalized horses, their blood samples were analyzed using the point-of-care hemoglobinometer and the usual cyanmethemoglobin method. The PCV was measured through centrifugation.
• Meanwhile, for the healthy horses, blood samples were taken and then manipulated to have a range of PCVs. This was achieved by adding or removing plasma from the samples, leading to PCV values from about 5 to 80 percent.

Results

• The results showed that for the hospitalized horses, the hemoglobin readings from the hemoglobinometer were generally below those derived from the cyanmethemoglobin method. However, a linear relationship was detected between results from the two methods, indicating comparable accuracy.
• The study found that the breed, sex, body weight, and duration of sample storage did not significantly impact the difference between the results obtained from the two methods.
• For the healthy horses, the hemoglobinometer was observed to have a notable negative bias when the hemoglobin concentration went beyond 16 g/dL.

Conclusions

• Based on the trial results, the researchers concluded that the hemoglobinometer offered good accuracy and precision for measuring hemoglobin concentration in horses, as long as their hemoglobin concentration was under 16 g/dL.