Hämolyse

Hämolyse means red blood cells have burst and released their contents into the surrounding serum or plasma. The laboratory sees it immediately, because the sample turns red rather than straw-coloured, and it is graded and reported.

It matters because it is not cosmetic. Substances that sit inside red cells at much higher concentrations than outside them are pushed upward, so potassium and LDH in particular become unusable, and other analyses are affected to varying degrees. The laboratory will either refuse the affected values or report them with a warning.

Almost all of it is caused during collection, which is the encouraging part, because that makes it preventable. The usual causes are a needle that is too narrow for the vein, excessive suction, a tourniquet left on too long, shaking the tube instead of inverting it gently, filling a tube short so the additive ratio is wrong, and letting a sample sit somewhere warm before dispatch.

Capillary collection has its own version. Squeezing or milking the fingertip to coax out more blood is the single most common cause of Hämolyse in a kapillare Blutentnahme, and it is exactly what someone does when the drop is not forming.

The consequence for a pharmacy is concrete. A haemolysed sample means calling the customer back for a second venöse Blutentnahme, which costs the consumables, the appointment slot and a measure of confidence in the service.

Prevention is ordinary Präanalytik discipline: the right needle, gentle inversion, correct fill volume, and a Probenlogistik that gets the tube moving quickly.