Standardization in Clinical Enzymology – Results of a Survey Performed in 2008 in Big Hospital Laboratories in Poland

The survey was performed in December 2008 in 21 big hospital laboratories in Poland. The purpose of this survey was to estimate how the IFCC standardization in clinical enzymology is recognized and followed in medical laboratories. Each participant received a short questionnaire in an electronic version consisting of 5 questions dealing with the main features for the Reference Procedures for measurement of catalytic activity concentrations of CK, LDH, GGTP, AST and ALT. Measurement temperature for all enzyme assays in question was 37°C and wavelenght was 340 nm for LDH, ALT, AST and CK in all but one lab. Most of laboratories (80%) performed GGTP assay according to the reference procedure. Surprisingly, the methods used for the LDH measurement were discordant with the IFCC reference procedure in respect to reaction principle in 50% of laboratories. On the other hand, methods for measurements of catalytic activity concentration of ALT and AST were incompatible with the IFCC reference procedures in respect to reaction mixture composition in 55% of laboratories.