[Interference in blood coagulation tests on lipemic plasma. Correction using n-hexane clearing].

PURPOSE: To eliminate the bias in the plasmatic coagulation test caused by lipemic samples by means of with addition of n-hexane in the ACL-3000 analyzer (Instrumentation Laboratory). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The turbidity caused by lipemia was simulated by addition of increasing quantities of Intralipid 20% (interferent) to samples from patients with normal pathological coagulation tests (with oral anticoagulant therapy). We compared the results of PT (prothrombin time), fibrinogen (derived) and APTT (activated partial thromboplastin time) before and after the addition of n-hexane. RESULTS: In samples with an elevated concentration of interferent (> 9.79 mmol/L of triglycerides) the analyzer failed to give any results. Once the lipids were cleared by n-hexane, the analyzer offered results for all the samples, which coincided with the original sample after applying a correction factor 1.06 to the TP and 0.88 to the TTPA. CONCLUSION: The addition of n-hexane is a valid method to eliminate the bias caused by the lipids in the coagulation tests.