Blood chemistry analysis is one of the diagnostic methods used to assess patient’s health status. In this test, serum extracted from the blood using a centrifuge is analyzed to identify the concentration of chemical ingredients. The centrifuge separates serum from the blood using centrifugal force which depends on the density of particles in blood. The automated chemistry analyzer aspirates serum through a thin probe to perform the requested tests.
Method: While using the centrifuge to prepare the blood samples to the automated chemistry analysis, the chemistry analyzer couldn’t aspirate the separated serum and a clog appeared in the thin sample probe of the analyzer. In most analyzers and in this case particularly the analyzer will stop working unless the clog is removed. This problem happened regularly in short time without any knowledge of the cause. Every time the probe is clogged, a biomedical engineer removes the clog and the analyzer keeps clogging the probe after several samples. Replacing the probe with a new one solution was tried with no positive result.