CHE-04 : Performance Evaluation of Point of Care Blood Gas Analyzer Epoc and i-STAT

Background: Increasingly small devices are being developed as demand for point of care test increases. Arterial blood gas analysis is quick scan and needs to be checked for rapid diagnosis and treatment in surgical and emergency situations, requiring rapid diagnosis and treatment. In this study, we evaluated point of care blood gas analyzer Epoc and i-STAT. Methods: The precision and linearity were measured according to CLSI EP15-A3 and EP6-A2 guidelines. Comparisons with the central laboratory blood gas analyzer, ABL-800 FLEX (Radiometer, Denmark), and point of care analyzer Epoc(Alere, Canada), i-STAT(Abbott Diagnostics, USA) were performed using 40 patient samples according to CLSI EP9-A3. Results: In precision study, coefficient of variation (CV) of Epoc and i-STAT showed range of 0.1% ~ 4.3 % and 0.1% ~ 3.3% respectively. Those coefficient of variation(CVs) ware within 5.7%, which is incoming quality control (IQC) target of ABGA in central lab. Both Epoc and i-STAT revealed acceptable linearity for pH, pCO2, pO2 assay. In comparison study, correlation coefficient was within 0.975 in both Epoc and i-STAT. Conclusion: ABL-800 FLEX, Epoc and i-STAT look similar to each other, so they won’t have problems with using central laboratory and POCT equipment. It could be useful for examinations in the areas where care is taken.