Evaluation of Two Handheld Point-of-Care Blood Gas Analyzers in Healthy Donkeys.

This research sought to measure the accuracy of two handheld point-of-care (POC) blood gas analyzers in donkeys. Through collecting and analyzing arterial and venous blood sample from 17 donkeys, the researchers found varied results between the devices and recommended expanding the number of subjects to better understand their potential role and set reference values.

Research Methodologies

• The research involved 17 healthy donkeys, from which both arterial and venous blood samples were collected.
• These samples were analyzed using a fully automated blood gas analyzer, referred to as ‘RAD’, alongside two handheld POC blood gas analyzers named i-STAT System and VetStat respectively.
• As a means of comparison and to measure accuracy, the results from the POC analyzers were assessed against the RAD.

Canonical Discriminant Analysis

• All parameters revealed by the three devices were put through a canonical discriminant analysis.
• This process is used to determine which parameters differentiate the POC analyzers from the RAD.
• Through this process, the most accurate POC for each parameter registered was identified in comparison with the RAD.

Results Analysis

• It was observed that the results differed depending on whether venous or arterial blood was analyzed.
• The i-STAT and RAD’s measurements showed good agreement when testing venous samples, but not arterial ones.
• A poor agreement between VetStat and RAD was noted for both blood types – venous and arterial.

Recommendations

• The researchers recommend increasing the number of subjects in future studies. This could provide a broader understanding of the potential role of POC blood gas analyzers in clinical practice.
• Such an expansion of the study population could also help in setting reference values, providing general guidelines for what to expect from these devices in the real-world applications.