Effect of lipemia interferences in routine clinical Biochemical Tests ( Intralаboratory Study )

Introduction: Lipemic specimens are common and frequent, but yet unresolved problem in clinical chemistry, and may produce significant interferences in the analytical results of different biochemical parameters. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of lipid removal using ultracentrifugation and LipoCleare treatment of lipemic samples, on some routine biochemistry parameters. Material and Methods: The samples obtained daily in the laboratory, the ones which were visibly muddy were selected and underwent to a process of LipoClean treatment and ultracentrifugation, being determined a variety of biochemical tests before and after investigationn. A total of 150 samples were studied. Results: Using the ultracentrifugation we found greatest differences in the concentration of alanin amino peptidase (10.6%) and the smallest one in the concentration of glucose (0.61%). Clinical interferences were found for urea, creatinine and calcium(those generally lead to significant errors in the interpretation of laboratory results).Results showed no significant differences in analyte values before and after LipoClean treatment, except for the total proteins, cholesterol and triglycerides. Conclusion: The individual laboratories most is quantify interference from lipemia for their specific methods and instruments, as the interference could be analyzed and/ or reagent-specific. Only if there is significant interference should the use of lipid clearing agents be considered. LipoClear does reduce lipemia but most methodologies are often sufficiently robust to avoid interference from lipemia.The percentage change in the concentration of different analytes before and after ultracentrifugation in hyperlipidemic sera never exceeded the total allowable error, significant differences in all parameters were found except for total bilirubin, glucose, and AST. This is the importance of proper treatment of lipemic samples and the significance of interferences in preanalytical phase and in the whole process of biochemical analysis of serum samples.