The stability of blood gases and CO-oximetry under slushed ice and room temperature conditions.

OBJECTIVES:Human blood gas stability data is limited to small sample sizes and questionable statistical techniques. We sought to determine the stability of blood gases under room temperature and slushed iced conditions in patients using survival analyses. METHODS:Whole blood samples from ∼200 patients were stored in plastic syringes and kept at room temperature (22-24 °C) or in slushed ice (0.1-0.2 °C) before analysis. Arterial and venous p2p22RESULTS:COHb and MetHb were stable up to 3 h in slushed ice and at room temperature; p2p2p2p2p2p2CONCLUSIONS:When assessing p2