Vreman H J, Ronquillo R B, Ariagno R L, Schwartz H C, Stevenson D K
Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305-5119.
Clin Chem. 1988 May;34(5):975-7.
We measured the concentration of carboxyhemoglobin (HbCO) in blood samples from 32 neonates by spectrophotometry (IL282 CO-Oximeter) and gas chromatography, finding a strong positive correlation (r = 0.89) between the concentration of fetal hemoglobin (Hb F) and HbCO as measured by spectrophotometry, but not by gas chromatography. Thus, Hb F interferes with the determination of HbCO by spectrophotometric techniques by falsely increasing apparent HbCO in direct proportion to Hb F. We conclude that, when Hb F is known or suspected to be present, blood HbCO cannot be reliably determined by methods based on spectrophotometry.
