Comparative analysis for strength serum sodium and potassium in three different methods: Flame photometry, ion-selective electrode (ISE) and colorimetric enzymatic.

BACKGROUND: Hydroelectrolytic disorders are common in clinical situations and may be harmful to the patient, especially those involving plasma sodium and potassium dosages. Among the possible methods for the dosages are flame photometry, ion-selective electrode (ISE) and colorimetric enzymatic method.
METHODS: We analyzed 175 samples in the three different methods cited from patients attending the laboratory of the University Hospital of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora. The values obtained were statistically treated using SPSS 19.0 software. The present study aims to evaluate the impact of the use of these different methods in the determination of plasma sodium and potassium.
RESULTS: The averages obtained for sodium and potassium measurements by flame photometry were similar (P > .05) to the means obtained for the two electrolytes by ISE. The averages obtained by the colorimetric enzymatic method presented statistical difference in relation to ISE, both for sodium and potassium. In the correlation analysis, both flame photometry and colorimetric enzymatic showed a strong correlation with the ISE method for both dosages.
CONCLUSION: At the first time in the same work sodium and potassium were analyzed by three different methods and the results allowed us to conclude that the methods showed a positive and strong correlation, and can be applied in the clinical routine.