Hemolysis detection method and system

1. A method of measuring hemolysis or hematocrit in a blood sample, the method comprising:

a. disposing the blood sample in a blood sample module having multiple electrodes spaced from each other by a conduit, the multiple electrodes and the conduit forming a flow path;

b. measuring an immittance value of the blood sample, the measuring being done at each of at least three multiple-frequency AC inputs; and

c. subjecting each immittance value measured in step b to a mapping function selected from the group consisting of neural networks and kernel-based orthogonal projection to latent structures, wherein the mapping function is one of the following:

a function (1) that maps immittance values to lysed blood levels and determining the level of lysed blood in the sample; or

a function (2) that maps immittance values to hematocrit levels and determining the level of hematocrit in the sample while compensating for the electrolyte level of the sample.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising computing (1) the function that maps immittance values to lysed blood levels using a plurality of blood samples containing known but varying lysed percentages of lysed blood cells or (2) the function that maps immittance values to hematocrit levels while compensating for the electrolyte level of the sample using a plurality of blood samples containing known but varying percentages of hematocrit and varying electrolyte levels.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of determining the function that maps immittance values to either lysed blood or hematocrit, the step further comprising:

measuring a plurality of immittance values for a predefined conductance sensor at least three AC frequencies using a plurality of blood samples containing known but varying lysed percentages of lysed blood cells or known but varying percentages of hematocrit and varying electrolyte levels; and

creating a calibration data set (1), when the blood sample contains lysed blood cells, using a function that maps immittance values to lysed blood levels to establish a relationship between a first H matrix of known sample characteristics including percent-lysed blood cells and a second X matrix of measured immittance values at the at least three predefined AC frequencies wherein the calibration data set and matrix relationship are used in computation of the function that maps immittance values to lysed blood levels or (2), when the blood sample contains varying percentages of hematocrit and varying electrolyte levels, using a function that maps immittance values to hematocrit levels while compensating for electrolyte levels to establish a relationship between a first H matrix of known sample characteristics including percent-hematocrit and a second X matrix of measured immittance values at the at least three predefined AC frequencies wherein the calibration data set and matrix relationship are used in computation of the function that maps immittance values to hematocrit levels while compensating for the electrolyte levels.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the mapping function is created from a predefined machine learning mathematics.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising using the level of lysed blood to correct the effect of hemolysis interference on other blood analytes.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising using the level of lysed blood to correct the effect of hemolysis interference on potassium.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising using the plurality of immittance values in a computation to produce the level of hematocrit of a blood sample.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising flowing blood through a blood sample module having an in-line configuration.

9. A hemolysis and/or hematocrit detection system comprising:

a blood sample module having multiple electrodes spaced from each other by a conduit, the multiple electrodes and the conduit forming a flow path;

an A/D converter module electrically coupled to the blood sample module;

a current sense component having a first coupling point and a second coupling point wherein the first coupling point is electrically coupled to the converter module and one of the multiple electrodes of the blood sample module;

a sine-wave generator electrically coupled between the second coupling point of the converter module and the other one of the multiple electrodes wherein the sine-wave generator is adapted to provide a plurality of AC frequencies; and

a computer processing module having a processor module, a memory module, and one of the following:

a function (1) that maps immittance values to lysed blood levels in the memory module that is processed by the processor module and converts a digital signal received from the converter module into a measured value wherein the measured value is proportional to a percentage of hemolysis of a sample disposed in and being measured in the blood sample module at each of at least three multiple-frequency AC inputs, wherein the function (1) is selected from the group consisting of neural networks and kernel-based orthogonal projection to latent structures, or

a function (2) that maps immittance values to hematocrit levels while compensating for the electrolyte levels in the memory module that is processed by the processor module and converts a digital signal received from the converter module into a measured value wherein the measured value is proportional to a percentage of hematocrit of a sample disposed in and being measured in the blood sample module at each of at least three multiple-frequency AC inputs, wherein the function (2) is selected from the group consisting of neural networks and kernel-based orthogonal projection to latent structures.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the function that maps immittance values to lysed blood levels is generated from a plurality of immittance values of samples having a known lysed percentage for a predefined configuration of at least a pair of multiple electrodes and the conduit, and wherein the function that maps immittance values to hematocrit levels while compensating for the electrolyte level is generated from a plurality of immittance values of samples having a known but varying percentage hematocrit and varying levels of electrolyte for a predefined configuration of the pair of multiple electrodes and the conduit, wherein each of the plurality of immittance values is measured using at least three different AC inputs.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the pair of multiple electrodes are tubular electrodes defining a portion of the flow path.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein each of the multiple electrodes are made of a material selected from the group consisting of gold, platinum, palladium, tungsten, stainless steel, electrically conductive alloys, and carbon.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the current sensing component is a resistor.

14. The system of claim 9 wherein the electrodes are interdigitated.

15. The system of claim 9 wherein the level of lysed blood is used in a calculation to remove the effect of hemolysis interference on other blood analytes.

16. The system of claim 9 wherein the level of lysed blood is used in a calculation to remove the effect of hemolysis interference on potassium.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein the plurality of immittances is additionally used in a computation to produce the level of hematocrit of a blood sample.

18. The system of claim 9 wherein blood flows through the multiple electrodes and the conduit in an in-line configuration.