Evaluation of contemporary methods for serum CO2.

We evaluated and inter-compared several newer methods for CO2 analysis--titrimetric (Van Slyke), automatic titrator, continuous-flow/indicator, and coupled-enzyme procedures--with respect to accuracy, precision, specificity interferences, and management criteria. All methods studied appeared to be clinically acceptable; but precision decreased (standard deviations increased) for the last two methods in above-normal ranges.