Laboratory Lab results are too important to go anywhere else.

Oxyhemoglobin (O2 Hgb)

O2 Hemoglobin, % Oxyhemoglobin, Fractional Oxyhemoglobin

Test Codes

Arterial: EPIC: LAB5350, Beaker: O2HAR, Venous: EPIC: LAB5351, Beaker: O2HVE, Mixed Venous: LAB5352, Beaker: O2HBM

Department

Chemistry

Instructions

Blood Gas specimens should ONLY be collected at the Dearborn, Farmington Hills, Grosse Pointe, Royal Oak, Taylor, Trenton, Troy, or Wayne Hospital Campuses. Specimens should NOT be collected at any other Beaumont Laboratory drawsite, Nursing Home, or Outreach office. 

Specimen Collection Criteria

Collect: Arterial, venous, or capillary, heparinized whole blood.

• A 1.0 mL or 3.0 mL plastic syringe containing dry heparin is usually used to collect the specimen.
• At least 1.0-2.0 mL (0.3 mL for pediatric patients) of blood is needed to ensure proper assay.
• Arterial specimens are collected by a physician, nurse, or respiratory therapist. 

Collection Requirements:

• For specimens collected by syringe, any air bubbles present in the syringe must be immediately expelled, the needle removed, and the syringe tightly capped. The syringe is rolled between the palms of the hands to ensure mixing.
  • NOTE: The Radiometer safePico Self-fill™ syringe has a metal ball to ensure homogeneous mixing when the syringe is rolled between the palms of the hands.
• Characterization of oxygen enrichment, at the time of arterial puncture, is required. This may be expressed as FiO2 fractional inspired oxygen concentration provided (e.g., 0.50), FiO2% (e.g., 50%), room air, or nasal cannula flow rate in liters per minute. The FiO2 must be noted on the requisition or entered as part of the electronic order for any arterial blood gas specimens. It is not possible to fully evaluate arterial blood gas results without knowledge of the oxygen concentration or nasal flow rate being delivered to a patient at the time of blood draw.
• The specimen must be properly labeled.
• Place on wet ice for transport. Ice and Specimen must be kept separated.
  • Suggested: Place specimen in front pocket of the biohazard bag. Place ice in zip lock section of biohazard bag.

• The specimen must be transported immediately to the STAT Laboratory (Royal Oak) or to the Chemistry Laboratories. 

Rejection Criteria

• Clotted specimens.
• Specimens not collected and processed as indicated.
• Specimens received past 1 hour from the time of collection. 

Inpatient Specimen Preparation

The specimen must be transported STAT, on wet ice, to the STAT Laboratory (Royal Oak) or to the Chemistry Laboratories. 

In-Lab Processing

Immediately analyze the whole blood, heparinized, iced specimen upon receipt.

Storage

Specimen Stability for Testing:

Room Temperature (20-26°C or 68-78.8°F): Unacceptable
Refrigerated (2-8°C or 36-46°F): 1 hour
Frozen (-20°C/-4°F or below): Unacceptable

Specimen Storage in Department Prior to Disposal:

Specimens are disposed within 8 hours of testing.

Laboratory

Dearborn Chemistry Laboratory
Farmington Hills Chemistry Laboratory 
Grosse Pointe Chemistry Laboratory
Royal Oak STAT Laboratory
Troy Chemistry Laboratory
Taylor Chemistry Laboratory
Trenton Chemistry Laboratory
Wayne Chemistry Laboratory 

Performed

Sunday – Saturday, 24 hours a day.
STAT and routine results available within 15 minutes of receipt in the laboratory.

Reference Range

Arterial Blood: 95-98%.
Capillary (0-5 days): 95-98%.
Mixed Venous Specimen: 40-70%.

Test Methodology

Absorption Spectrophotometry.

Interpretation

• Oxyhemoglobin is calculated as the fraction of hemoglobin that is oxygenated relative to the total of all hemoglobin species present, including oxygenated Hgb, deoxygenated Hgb, methemoglobin, and carboxyhemoglobin. Thus oxyhemoglobin as a percentage may be significantly decreased in cases of methemoglobinemia or carbon monoxide poisoning.
• Elevated levels of bilirubin may increase the values.
• Increased turbidity may also cause erroneous results, (i.e., readings too low in the high saturation range, and too high in the low saturation range.) 

Clinical Utility

This test is used to evaluate blood oxygenation and aids in the diagnosis of hypoxia. It is also used to monitor a patient's respiratory function during mechanical ventilation.

CPT Codes

82810

Contacts

Last Updated

10/29/2023