Anyone ever heard of hemolysis?

ReeseGB · 08-15-2006, 08:26 PM

I was looking at my lab results (which some of you may know, came back "perfect") and saw a disclaimer in very small print that said that insulin measurements "may be falsely low in the presence of hemolysis." From my little bit of research I've learned that hemolysis has to do with the red blood cells and will negatively affect the results from a fasting blood test to check insulin. I'm wondering if anyone has heard of this happening before?

Mustangsally82 · 08-16-2006, 03:42 AM

I've never seen that on a lab report, but I can tell you that hemolysis is when the red blood cells burst and the things inside them come out into the blood sample and can affect the results. Lots of different things can cause hemolysis like if the person who drew your blood doesn't let the alcohol dry before sticking you, or if they shake the blood sample too vigorously.

There are two types of basic blood tests: those run on serum and those run on whole blood. I think most tests use serum which is the part of your blood that is left once the red blood cells sink to the bottom of the tube (it's drawn off the top of the sample). So if the red blood cells burst (hemolysis), then the substances that are inside the red blood cells can contaminate the serum. This can give you false results.

Hope that helps. There's nothing that says your sample was hemolyzed, is there?

ReeseGB · 08-18-2006, 11:51 AM

Thanks for the great info! There is nothing on the results that says that my labs were corrupted, but I was thinking that maybe they could have been due to hemolysis. The only reason I think that it is a possibility is because I have unexplained serious weight gain, hirsutism, problem with carbohydrates, and I'm lucky if I get af once a year. Yet my lab results came back saying that my insulin, testosterone, thyroid, and everything else is normal. But that doesn't make any sense. That's why I'm thinking maybe something happened during my labs.