In today’s VETgirl blog, we interview Dr. Amie Koenig, an Associate Professor at University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine on her recent publication in JAVMA entitled “Formulation and validation of a predictive model to correct blood glucose concentrations obtained with a veterinary point-of-care glucometer in hemodiluted and hemoconcentrated canine blood samples.”

This was a really important study for veterinarians and veterinary technicians to be aware of, as it assesses the accuracy of AlphaTRAK 2, a veterinary point-of-care (POC) glucometer, in both hemodiluted and hemoconcentrated samples. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of packed cell volume (PCV) on veterinary glucometer measurements in canine blood samples. They looked at 6 healthy dogs and 30 hospitalized dogs, and found that as samples become more hemodilute (i.e., more anemic), the POC glucometer readings were falsely increased while as PCV increased (i.e., more hemoconcentrated), the POC glucometer readings were falsely decreased.

AlphaTRAK

While this is a great veterinary glucometer (VETgirl uses the AlphaTRAK all the time in the ER), this study pointed out that when PCV was at either extreme, careful interpretation of the POC glucometer reading must occur. The good thing? You can adjust the glucose concentration in dogs based on a formula discovered in this study:

Corrected POC glucose = POCglucose + ([1.6 X PCV] – 81.3)

Listen to learn more!

References:

1. Lane SL, Koenig A, Brainard BM. Formulation and validation of a predictive model to correct blood glucose concentrations obtained with a veterinary point-of-care glucometer in hemodiluted and hemoconcentrated canine blood samples. J Am Vet Med Assoc 2015;246(3):307-312.

  1. Pingback: All about the blood glucose in veterinary medicine | VETgirl Veterinary Continuing Education Blog - VETgirl

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