TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2016//
TI  - Assessment of a semi-quantitative screening method for diagnosis of ethylene glycol poisoning
JO  - Annals of clinical biochemistry
A1  - Sankaralingam, Arun
A1  - Thomas, Annette
A1  - James, David
A1  - Wierzbicki, Anthony S.
SP  - 501
EP  - 503
VL  - 54
IS  - 4
N2  - BACKGROUND: Ethylene glycol (EG) poisoning remains a rare but important presentation to acute toxicology units. Guidelines recommended that Ethylene Glycol should be available as an 'urgent' test within 4 hours but these are difficult to deliver in practice. This study assessed a semi-quantitative enzymatic spectrophotometric assay for EG compatible with automated platforms. <br><br>METHODS: The EG method was assessed in 21 samples from patients with an increased anion gap and metabolic acidosis not due to EG ingestion, and 7 samples known to contain EG. All samples were analysed in random order in a blinded-manner to their origin on a laboratory spectrophotometer. <br><br>RESULTS: In this study, 7 samples were known to contain EG at concentrations >100mg/L. The method correctly identified all 7 samples as containing EG. No false positives were observed. 13 samples gave clear negative results. EG was present at <20mg/L in one sample, but this sample remained within the limits of the negative control. Passing-Bablock correlation of estimates of EG concentration against results obtained when the samples had been analysed using the quantitative method on an automated analyser showed a good correlation (R=0.84) but with an apparent under-recovery. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: A semi-quantitative assay for EG was able to discriminate well between samples containing EG and those with other causes of acidosis. It is a practical small-scale assay for rapid identification of cases of EG-poisoning.<br><br>© 2016 Sage Publications, Inc.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0004-5632
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0004563216672892
ID  - ref1
ER  -