Re: got my hospital records

On Oct 5, 11:58 am, "Michelle C." <bookbug2...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Oct 4, 8:21 pm, Jackie Patti <jpa...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:



The hospital lab work says the normal range for serum potassium is
3.3-5.1 mmol/L. Most of my blood work was 3.3-4.4, except for an
outlier of 8.9 the day after the angio.

The 8.9 potassium outlier reading was probably because your blood
sample was hemolyzed (red blood cells broken up releasing vast amounts
of potassium into the plasma). If your potassium had truly been 8.9,
it is unlikely you would be here to discuss it with us. ;-) The
blood sample should have been redrawn and the result from this sample
should not have been reported.

(Okay, I'm channeling my former lab tech self.)

Something else to keep in mind about the potassium test if it seems
high and they will no doubt retest to check:

"Is there anything else I should know?
The way that your blood is drawn and handled may cause the potassium
level in the sample to be falsely high. If you clench and relax your
fist a lot while your blood is drawn, this will make potassium rise.
If blood comes out of your veins too fast or too slow, the blood cells
can break and increase potassium. Sometimes, if more than one tube of
blood is drawn at the same time, some potassium from the tubes with
the purple tops can get into the other tubes and increase the
potassium. If the specimen does not get from your doctor's office to
the laboratory quickly, the potassium can also increase. If there are
any questions as to how your blood was collected, your doctor may
request that the test be repeated before starting any treatment."

http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/potassium/test.html

.

Quantcast