Abstract:

Objective

To explore the feasibility of establishing a microfluidic technology for detecting potassium in finger blood of hemodialysis patients.

Methods

Eighteen hemodialysis patients were enrolled， from each of whom 100 μl of finger blood was collected for potassium detection using the microfluidic technology， and 2 ml of venous blood was sent to the laboratory for potassium detection.The difference and correlation between the blood potassium concentrations measured by the two methods were analyzed.The receiver operating characteristic （ROC） curves were drawn to analyze the diagnostic and therapeutic value of finger blood potassium ＞5.0 mmol/L for dialysis patients.

Results

The difference between the finger blood potassium concentration detected by microfluidic technology and the venous blood potassium concentration measured by the laboratory was about 10% （r=0.774， P＜0.05）.The area under the ROC curve with the finger blood potassium＞5.0 mmol/L being the indicator was 0.938.

Conclusion

The finger blood potassium concentration detected by microfluidic technology was linearly correlated to the venous blood potassium concentration detected by the laboratory.The finger blood potassium detection method based on microfluidic technology may have certain value for monitoring the blood potassium concentration of dialysis patients.

Key words: Blood potassium, Finger blood, Hemodialysis, Monitoring