Blood Chemistry Analyzer / Blood Analyzers

What is a blood chemistry analyzer?

A blood chemistry analyzer is used to determine components in blood. Blood analyzers are used by hospitals, medical labs, forensic labs, and by people at home. A blood chemistry analyzer may be used to test for many things, such as blood cell counts, therapeutic drug monitoring, illegal drug use, blood typing, protein analysis, checking thyroid function, checking for the presence of antibodies, and, when used by patients at home, for glucose or cholesterol monitoring.

There are several types of tests used by blood analyzers, including cell counters for doing the blood counts, immunoassays for detecting antibodies, tests for ions that measure voltage differences, and tests for the presence of enzymes that detect enzyme activity by a physical change in the sample.

What are some considerations for purchasing a blood chemistry analyzer?

Blood chemistry analyzers may be capable of doing only one type of test or many, so when choosing a blood analyzer keep in mind the tests you want to perform. Other features that can differ between blood chemistry analyzers and that may be important for your laboratory are number of samples run at a time; tests per hour; sample size needed; if there is a manual override to stop current tests to run an emergency sample; how much data storage it has; and if the blood analyzer is benchtop, portable, or handheld.

Narrow your focus to the best system for your lab, then consider pertinent features; in a GC system, for example, fast run times and easy-to-navigate software may be top priority.