Plasma viscosity and whole blood viscosity as diagnostic tools of blood abnormalities by using simple syringe method

There are many different methods for the assessment of whole blood viscosity, but not every pathology unit has equipment for any of the methods. Whole blood viscosity can be extrapolated from haematocrit and total serum proteins. The objective of this work is to develop a simple method by which clinical laboratory workers can easily extrapolate whole blood and plasma viscosity. Another objective is to examine if the new technique can be used to measure blood and plasma viscosity under different conditions. In the present study, simple syringe method was used to measure relative blood viscosity (RBV) and relative plasma viscosity (RPV). A volume of 2 ml of whole blood was allowed to flow freely through a syringe and the time of flow was estimated and then divided by the time of flow of the standard to obtain RBV. In the same sequence RPV was measured using plasma. The correlation between RBV and some blood parameters in both control and anemia cases were examined in order to make sure of the accuracy of the method used. Statistically significant difference in measured values of RBV between control and anemia cases was obtained, but not for RPV values. A strong direct correlation was observed for the relations of RBV and other blood parameters in both control and anemia cases.