Comparison of Wet and Dry Ashing Methods for Determining Blood Iron

Abstract

Iron represents 0.335% by weight of the hemoglobin molecule.1 Using this factor, blood hemoglobin may be estimated in grams per 100 cc. by the blood iron method as accurately as by the accepted oxygen capacity method.2 Different standards representing 100% hemoglobin must be adopted for men,3 women3 and children.4 The figure for the milligrams of iron per 100 cc. of blood may be converted into percentage hemoglobin by multiplying by 2 for men, by 2.25 for women, and by 2.5 for children.Calibration of clinical hemoglobinometers such as the Dare and the Newcomer instruments is facilitated by using the blood iron method in preference to more complicated standardized methods. Simplification of procedures for determining blood iron even makes possible their use routinely in clinical laboratories. In view of these facts it is of utmost importance to have definite assurance of the accuracy of the method employed for the determination of blood iron.We wish to report a comparative study of 2 different methods we h...